Ferngully 2
by Ginger Freak
Summary: Ferngully is recovering from Hexus’ reign but the arrival of humans has put the Fairies on edge. Crysta is being forced into a love triangle, how will she cope? Zack/Cry/Pips. Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**You know when you remember something you haven't seen for ages and it was something you really liked and wished it didn't stop there? This is one of those moments. I love Ferngully, it's probably the best animated fantasy films that the west has come up with. Ferngully two was funnier but didn't have the punch that the first one did. The title is crap but it's there until I can think ofa better one.**

**That's enough of my rambling so I'll just say this: R&R and I do own-i mean don't own Ferngully.**

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Alive. That's the best word to describe it. When the sun was high, clouds of steam slithered and bloomed above the canopy as though the forest was letting out a large condensed sigh. Below the canopy the water never got past the leaves and collected into droplets that carried back to the soil. At this time of year the trees were lush with moisture filled fruit and vines which attract a variety of animals and insects.

This was the last surviving Rainforest. Ferngully.

Surrounding the compact area of trees was once a wasteland, a tree graveyard that stretched as far as the eye could see. Now, saplings and shrubbery have grown, and a young forest was born.

Within the trees of the mature forest, the tree spirits gather each day to tend to the new growth. Combining their magic, the young forest was maturing at a rapid rate. Saplings grew to heights in half the natural time and were of reproducing size within months. Flowers bloomed and fruit ripened so it was soon habitual for all kinds of creatures.

A flicker of light danced between the leaves and branches of a young tree. It wasn't fairing too well. Already its leaves were a sickly brown and its thinnest branches were parched and easily snapped. A small hand rested against the hard bark, sensing for the source of its pain.

Crysta was at a loss. She had been tending to this tree for weeks and there seemed to be no state of recovery. It was slowly dying. Crysta couldn't understand why such a healthy tree was dying like this; it had no poison, no parasites and had everything it could possibly need. What was she missing?

'Crysta!'

She lost her concentration and turned to the male Fairy who called her.

'What are you doing Pips? Shouldn't you be tending to your own tree?' she scolded.

'I would if I had a tree anymore.'

'What?'

'It died; it just stopped growing and died. It's not just mine either, it's been happening all over the place. Random trees are just dying off…your tree seems to be in the same state as mine was,' he explained.

'But why?'

'I was hoping you would know.'

Crysta sighed and gave the tree a mournful look.

'I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I can do for you,' she whispered into the bark.

Turning around, she faced Pips, unsure what to say. Since she was Magi's pupil the Fairies have begun to turn to her for advice and leadership. It was times like these when she wasn't sure of the answer or didn't know it at all, that the pressure of responsibility would get to her. Thankfully Pips understood and gave her all the support he could give, as well as make her laugh.

'Where else has this happened?'

Pips took off, intending for her to follow. She beat her transparent wings and flew behind him, leaving her signature trail of blue light behind her. Pips began ascending upwards and broke through the barrier of leaves that made up the canopy.

Crysta remembered the first time that she dared to break through the canopy. Back then Fairies wouldn't even think of entering the strange dimension that was the sky. Nothing existed up there and there were many dangers that could easily harm or even kill a Fairy. Children were usually told bad stories about the world beyond it and were forbidden to enter it. Crysta was probably the first in centuries to break that rule but she was glad she did. The view from up there was breath taking.

From up here she could see the forest almost up to the horizon. It hadn't reached its original size yet but it was a big improvement. In the distance she saw Mount Warning's peak jut through the tree line and, like always, the sky went on forever in a vast blanket of blue.

Crysta's heart clenched as she examined the forest before her. Amongst the sea of green were patches of yellow and brown, and there were even places where the trees have lost their leaves entirely. Crysta hugged her hands to her chest in grief. Why was this happening?

Pips watched her silently and was pained by her reaction. He didn't like the situation as much as she did but he didn't take it so much to heart. There was nothing more they could do. Crysta knew that, yet she was making herself personally responsible for each death.

Pips removed her hands from her face and clasped them in his own, getting her attention.

'Come on, let's go home.'

Crysta nodded and wiped the tears away. Pips smiled at her and shot away.

The race was on.

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**Short chappie but I hoped you liked it. There will be more. Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I liked writing this chapter, it's amusing. I find writing these a lot easier than the other story I'm writing, it may have something to do with the fact that I'm writting 4 times less for just one chapter. lol.**

The next day was another beautiful day. Sunlight filtered through the trees and the air was warm and heavy with trapped moisture.

Crysta awoke to a familiar song. This melody stood out from the chorus of birdsong which blended into a constant wave of noise. It was something that she has listened to for years and for some reason that she cannot fathom, she could never get tired of it. It was smooth and comforting, yet exciting and mischievous.

Crysta looked out through the opening of her tree but couldn't see the red headed owner of the tune. Giddy, she lifted herself from her bed of leaves and flew out the opening. Following the sweet music, Crysta found herself near Pips' tree but he obviously wasn't inside. The notes became clearer and sharper as she got closer to the small glade and saw him, in his own little world playing his blow pipes. He was sat on a rock next to the small pool of water and had one foot dipped in it. The serene expression on his face almost convinced Crysta not to disturb him.

Slowly and silently, so not to give away her presence, Crysta flew around the glade and hid herself amongst the trees. As she gradually became closer to the rock Pips was resting on, she noticed that some fish had come to listen to his tune and were dancing beneath the surface. Crysta giggled at the sight and continued to move closer. Now positioned behind and above him, she quickly selected a cupped leaf and plucked it silently from the branch. She carefully balanced it in her arms so the water it had collected didn't spill. She then flew directly above him and dumped the contents on top of Pips head.

Pips spluttered and flew away instinctively. He turned sharply and saw Crysta floating in the air above his resting spot, clutching her stomach in unrestrained laughter. Shock turned into annoyance and then mischievousness. He'd get her back for that.

Whilst Crysta was distracted, Pips flew as fast as his wings could carry him and begun shaking the branch above her.

Too late to react to the gust of wind that was unquestionably caused by Pips, Crysta was drenched as the leaves were shook of their water and rained down upon her. Pips laughed at her soaked form and flew towards her smugly.

Crysta gave him an annoyed glare and then suddenly smirked. Pips lifted his arms to protect his face as Crysta began to spin abnormally fast and dispel the water like a wet wombat.

Pips was more soaked than before.

Crysta stopped spinning and gave him a smug smile, surprisingly un-dizzy. She then took off, leaving Pips no time to dry himself off before he too chased after her.

It was like a ritual dance. Every morning they would twist and turn and force each other on until they were both near exhaustion. Seeing who could out last the other or who could fly the fastest. Pips proudly remained that champion.

Pips lead Crysta on towards a knotted tree. He dived and weaved amongst the tangled roots and once free, showed off his trademark skill of flying backwards. Like this, he could watch Crysta frown in annoyance and compare how far behind she was to his magical trail of green. She closed her eyes in concentration and managed to gain some distance but he still remained in the lead.

The last hurdle was straight ahead. A fallen hollow log had for years been the finishing line for their little competition and the winner was the one who flew out the other end first.

Pips was the first to enter with Crysta close behind him. Half way through Crysta leveled with him and Pips smirked as he added a small amount of speed. He was going to win again…but something went wrong.

The recent rains and the decomposing stability of the log had caught up with it and part of it collapsed right in front of Pips. Pips luckily dodged but the sudden danger struck up a fear for Crysta's safety and he stopped in his tracks.

As soon as Crysta saw the log collapse she escaped through one of the holes in the side, but Pips was still in there.

'Pips!' Crysta called.

Pips was relieved that she got out but he begun to fear for himself as the log began to collapse in other places. The nearest way out was the hollow end and Pips made no hesitation to take it. Pips barely shot out before the whole roof of the log caved in. Pips breathed heavily and found all the air rush out of him as a streak of blue slammed into him.

'You idiot! What were you thinking?!'

Crysta had her arms wrapped around him and Pips found it difficult to breathe. Not because she was squeezing him so tightly but because she was so close, the rare physical contact that he secretly craved. He in turn wrapped his arms around her thin waist, savoring the closeness before she inevitably pushed him away. They looked at each other intensely. They were both breathing deeply from the race and covered in sweat. Pips hair was still damp from Crysta's prank and clung to his face and neck. Crysta raised a hand to brush them away but hesitated when she saw Pips' forest green eyes follow her every move. There was an affectionate gleam in his eye. He gently grasped her hand and placed it against his cheek, turning his face into her palm. His eyes still watched her and she felt numb as a chill crawled up her spine. She was pinned by his gaze and her tiny heart thundered in her chest. She couldn't move. All she could do was watch as Pips' face came ever closer to hers…

'DANGER! DANGER! CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD! CALL THE U.S. EMBASY!'

…but the spell was broken.

'That damn Bat,' Pips growled through his teeth.

Crysta had already broken out of his embrace to confront the hysteric bat and was trying to calm him down.

'Batty! What's wrong?'

'Crysta!' Batty cried, 'We must go. Go far away where they can't find us. Call 911 we're in trouble. TROUBLE!!!'

Batty had grabbed Cyrsta by the shoulders and was shaking her madly. Pips came to her rescue and flicked at the antenna sticking out of the side of Batty's head. It sparked and Batty's eyes immediately went wide and his ears and fur stood on end.

'Peace dude, you're killing the vibe,' he suddenly said, relaxed.

Pips and Crysta hadn't a clue what he was talking about as Batty began acting like a hippy. Which they, of course, don't have a clue about.

'Batty, what are you talking about?' asked Crysta.

Crysta's voice snapped Batty back to reality and he began to cower and yell in fear.

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not again. They are not taking me back. I refuse to become a piece of merchandise. You can not take away my rights! I want my phone call!'

'Batty!' both Crysta and Pips yelled.

'They're here! They're back!'

'Who's back?'

'The humans!'

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**Cliffhanger Ha ha ha! Batty you stupid bat! now Pips is pissed! Review.**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter up. Its the magic number 3. This was difficult to write, trying to describe human things that we all know about from a fairy's perpective, so forgive me if it reads weird.**

At the edge of the forest, a group of jeeps and one trailer were parked in a fairly wide semi-circle. In the middle, wood and dead branches had been collected and were piled in a tent-like structure. Humans mingled among the jeeps and trailer, some were setting up foldable chairs around the piled wood and some were talking among themselves.

It was dusk. Crysta, Pips, Batty and the Beetle boys watched safely within the confines of the trees, observing the humans and their strange looking pets. They planned to take a closer look once it became darker.

'This is a bad idea,' Batty muttered, 'We should all turn around and pretend they don't exist.'

'Batty,' Crysta groaned, irritated with Batty's constant complaints.

'Let's go,' said Pips. There was a cheer of agreement from the Beetle boys. Patience was not their strong point and Crysta heard their eagerness to get going. Batty scowled at them.

Crysta giggled and took off, signaling their departure. They split into two groups. Pips led the Beetle boys to one side of the campsite whilst Crysta and Batty explored the other.

The humans weren't bothered by their presence and mistook them for insects.

The first object of interest Crysta flew to was the jeep, which she thought was some kind of large animal which the humans had tamed. Her eyes frowned in confusion at the hard, shiny coating that made a strange metallic twang when she hit it. It was like no material she had come across before. Perhaps it was some large protective shell.

She flew to a window and looked inside. It was the most bizarre thing she had ever seen. It was hollow inside, with strange forms of innards which she could not identify. She went inside for a better look and Batty followed. The first thing she realised was a strange smell. It wasn't bad but it was unfamiliar. She touched everything. From the softness of the chairs to the hard plastic of the dashboard, the textures and alien shapes fascinated her.

'Batty! Have you ever seen anything like this before?!' she asked excitedly.

Batty had stopped to rest and was hanging upside down from the mirror.

'Yes, it's an environmentally damaging piece of disgrace called a car. Can we go now? It stinks of plastic and petrol in here,' he replied grouchily, using one wing to cover his nose.

Crysta ignored Batty's moaning and was drawn to the rectangular shaped object that Batty was hanging from. She flew up to inspect it and then flew away with a scream.

'What? What is it?' Batty cried, panicky.

He took of to find Crysta, who was hiding behind one of the seats headrests. She peeked over the top cautiously, eyeing the mirror suspiciously. Batty landed on top of the head rest and tried to find what she was starring at. She slowly floated upwards and hovered in front of the mirror once more. She then burst out laughing.

'Batty come see this!'

Batty reluctantly took off once more and furiously beat his wings to stay level with Crysta.

'Humans are amazing!' she praised, 'they've somehow trapped water to keep it upright! So you can see your reflection!'

Batty frowned disapprovingly at her enthusiasm. He watched his reflection bobbed up and down with his effort to stay air born whilst Crysta effortlessly twirled through the air, looking at herself at different angles. Batty swooped out of the jeep to get some fresh air, free from the stench of humans and their contraption, but as he exited through the window, a different and terrifying scent had him flying round in circles yelling.

Crysta quickly flew out to see what was wrong and found her gaze fixed to the pile of wood the humans had collected.

It was completely alight.

The smell of burning wood had Batty's instincts reeling and he took off into the forest without a second glance. Crysta however couldn't look away from the flickering, burning light.

Fire.

Zack showed her this once a year ago. It was so small, so delicate, so beautiful, yet it had hurt when she touched it. This was something wild, angry and seething, for every so often it would hiss and snap. She could feel the heat of it from where she hung in midair and she was unsure, if what she was shown a year before and the thing before her now, was the same thing.

Slightly afraid, Crysta began searching for Pips and flew to his side of the campsite, where she had last seen him. She flew into the shade of the trailer, escaping the heat that was making her skin dry and itchy. With the fire out of sight, the fear she had for it melted away and her curiosity perked once again for the large broad trailer before her. On the side of it was a large yellowish-white square and when she looked closely she found it was hollow like the other thing was and there was a light inside.

There was more space in this one and it had paper everywhere, the walls, the floor and on the desks it had fixed to the sides. There was also a black and grey rectangular box on one of the desks with a chair tucked beneath it.

Crysta ducked back when the wall on the other side suddenly opened and a human stepped inside. He closed the door and secured the cap on his head. He brushed some of the paper off the desk with the black box and opened it with the lid staying stiffly upright. He then pulled out the chair and sat on it. With his focus on the black box that had now lit with an eerie light, to Crysta's surprise, she presumed it was safe to nose about with his back turned.

Her plan failed dismally. Unlike the other thing, this larger thing had something blocking the way and she smacked into the glass head first. Clutching her head in agony she flew in twitchy short movements away from the cause of her pain.

She finally stopped a short distance away and curled into a ball as she clutched her head. Still in pain, she didn't notice as something large followed her. She didn't even have time to scream as she was engulfed in darkness.

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**Cliffhanger. Who or what has captured Crysta? I think you can guess. Review.**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry to take so long, I've had exams and a second story to write as well as this one. Enjoy.**

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In the confines of her small prison, Crysta couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu. The walls that had suddenly caged her were warm and slightly rough. She didn't have time to ponder the nature of her surroundings because no more then a minute later, the top opened and revealed the walls to be the pink colour of a pair of human hands.

Crysta stared perplexed up at the human who caught her. He was a young adult, ranging around early twenties and was dressed in torn, ragged jeans and a pale blue, dirt stained muscle shirt. His skin was heavily tanned and enhanced the finely toned muscles that laced his bare arms. Crysta looked up to his face; his long blonde hair, that wasn't hidden by a cap, was tied back into a low ponytail and his jaw was covered with dark blonde stubble. Dark brown eyes smiled down at her.

'Hey Crysta.'

His voice was mellow and entwined with excitement. Crysta gawped at him.

'Zack?'

'The one and only,' Zack smiled, showing a row of white teeth.

Crysta unexpectedly shot at his face and Zack stumbled back in surprise. Taken back by her sudden attack, he wondered if he'd done something to upset her, but as he crossed his eyes to see what damage she was doing to his face, he almost laughed as he found the little Fairy was hugging his nose.

'I've missed you so much! It's great to see you again.'

Zack plucked the Fairy off of his nose and placed her gently onto his palm.

'It's great to see you too, Crysta. How've you been?'

'I am well. How about you? What is this thing by the way? Is there some magic force field protecting it?' Crysta asked, noticing her surroundings.

She was inside the 'thing' that she tried, but failed to enter in the first place.

'You haven't changed a bit,' Zack laughed, 'I thought you had figured it out by now that we humans have no magic.'

'Then what repelled me?'

'Its called glass,' Zack explained, he carried her over to the window and tapped on it. 'It's a solid object, but it's just see-through. See?'

Crysta floated off his hand to inspect the glass, a ghost like figure of herself and Zack stared back at her and copied their every movement. She placed a hand against it and was shocked at how cold it was. She then pressed her forehead against it and noticed her transparent-self disappeared and she was able to see the world out side clearly. The edge of the trees was a stark black silhouette against the fading pinkish orange sky.

She pushed herself away and watched fascinated as a silvery grey halo gradually vanished around the area where her hands and head had been. Zack saw her curiosity spark and smirked. He placed his face close to the window and breathed. Once the oval of silver had formed, he drew a smiley face with his finger. Crysta watched and tried to imitate. However the area of silver she made was so small that it disappeared before she could draw anything. Her frustrated attempts made Zack chuckle.

'No fair, no fair,' she whined as Zack breathed another lasting mist over his old one and drew another smiley face, but this one had its tongue sticking out mockingly. Crysta glared at him and Zack just laughed.

Crysta decided to ignore him for making fun of her and began to explore the confines of this strange hollow box. Zack returned to his laptop and did some work while he waited for her to talk to him again. It was sooner than he expected.

'What is this thing?' Crysta repeated.

'It's a trailer.'

'Trailer,' she tested, 'And what about this?'

Zack had to turn around to see what she was pointing at.

'That's a light bulb.'

'Light bulb.'

Zack watched her hover about the light like a moth and was causing flickering shadows across the walls.

'Don't touch it,' Zack warned, 'it'll burn you.'

Zack gave up on his work and sat contently watching Crysta flit around the room pointing and testing the unfamiliar words.

Zack was unbelievably happy to see her. On the day that he left, the urge to remain shrunk and stay with her was strong, but as a human there were things he could do to protect her and the forest from another disaster. That had been his only goal for the past year and now he has returned once more, not to destroy it, but to save it. Seeing Crysta again was an added bonus.

'So what are you doing here? Why have so many humans come here? Are you with them? You're not here to cut down trees again are you?' Crysta asked.

Her curiosity hasn't shrunk a bit, Zack thought.

'No we're not.' He reassured her, 'But we are here to help.'

'How?' Crysta flew to his eye line, curiosity evident on her small face.

'Err, it's a bit complicated, but basically we're going to test the condition of the soil, trees, plants and observe animal behavior to see the progress of the forest. We have the means to 'help' if there are any problems stunting the forests recovery.'

'So…you're going to help things grow?' Crysta said unsurely.

'Yeah.' Zack said.

Crysta split into a huge grin.

'So you're going to become a tree spirit of some sort.'

Zack laughed.

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Pips and the Beetle boys had finished their sweep and returned to the tree which they were hiding in earlier. Pips looked around him, trying to spot Crysta's blue trail amongst the neighboring trees. He then let his eyes sweep over the camp site, but there was no sign of her there either. Batty also seemed to be missing.

Where could they be? Pips ordered the Beetle boys to split up and search for her.

'Ohhhhhh nooooooooo!'

Pips barely dodged as a brown furry fluff ball with wings flew into the tree behind him and left a Batty shaped mark behind as he slid to the floor. Pips was onto him in a second.

'Where's Crysta?!' Pips demanded.

Batty lifted his head and looked at Pips in a disoriented fashion. His ears flopped over his eyes and he was having difficulties keeping focus on one object. He began jabbing his claw at two Pips.

'Owshoe I know bro? Shez your girlno? Batty slurred.

Pips blushed and then slapped Batty's antenna…hard. Batty howled and clutched his head.

'Can't you do anything without resorting to violence?' Batty complained.

'Where's Crysta?!'

Suddenly behind them was the snapping of twigs and Pips whirled to find a human looking down upon them.

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**I actually have no idea what colour Zack's eyes are or how his name is spelt. Is it Zack Zac or Zak? I guess it doesn't really matter, they all sound the same. Review people.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Another chapter up. Sorry about the wait, I have exams on at the moment and they are taking up most of my time. That and I've had writers block. R&R**

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'Hey Pipsqueak, how you doing?'

Pips couldn't believe it. Towering above him with Crysta peering over his hand was that annoying, wingless human who had been no bigger than him only just last year. Pips flew to eye level, slightly peeved at the size disadvantage.

'What are you doing here Zag?' Pips growled.

'Chill dude,' Zack said with his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

Crysta flew up to join Pips who was floating a foot away from Zack's face. She was flitting in circles and darting all over the place in excitement.

'Zack and the humans have returned to the forest! But this time they are going to help things grow! Like we do! Can you believe it!? Isn't it great!?'

Pips didn't show as much enthusiasm to the idea. What could the humans do? They have no magic and so far the only thing he's seen the humans do is cut down trees and start fires. And the worst thing was that Zag was the reason why Crysta was zooming about like a young Fairy who had just learnt how to fly for the first time and no doubt was going to steal all of her attention.

But on the bright side, Crysta looked a lot happier than she has been for a while and if the humans have somehow found a way to make plants grow then he really couldn't argue against it. Dang.

'Zack, my man!' Batty called, suddenly swooping up and flapping in front of Zack's face, 'lend a hand would ya?'

Zack held out his hand, slightly confused until Batty glided over and landed on his palm.

'Wow, you're looking great! You look like a naked gorilla in a border collie wig.'

'That's a nice way to greet an old friend,' Zack said sarcastically.

'You know you love it,' Batty grinned.

'Hey what's this?'

Everyone looked down at the gruff voice. The Beetle boys had regrouped and they were hovering around Zack's foot, staring particularly at Zack's red snickers.

'Is it some weird tree?'

'Maybe it's a fungus. Don't eat it! It's poisonous!'

One of the beetle boys had grabbed Zack's shoelace and was stuffing as much as possible into his mouth.

Zack shifted his foot and the beetle boys scattered, but the one who was eating his shoe lace was still trying to tear it off.

'It's alive!

'Fly away, fly away, fly away!'

'Oi, quit trying to eat me, those are some quality shoes,' complained Zack.

The beetle boys looked up and a look of recognition crossed their faces.

'Hooman! It's the hooman!'

They flew up and knocked Batty out of Zack's hand, who landed on the ground with a thump!

'O-ow,' he groaned, rubbing his head, 'How many time's am I to be battered today. Yes I'm a Bat, but don't take my name so literally…'

'Hooman's come back,'

'Hey how ya doin?'

'Can we eat it?' said the shoe chomping Beetle boy, who now had drool all over his chin.

'…and no one is listening to me,' Batty grumbled.

Pips could feel anger starting to build. Why was everyone accepting this chump? Did everyone just forget that he was the cause of all the damage in the first place?!

Pips watched Zack's and Crysta's conversing silently, noticing how Zack smiled at Crysta's buzzing excitement and how she literally glowed just being in Zack's presence. She was never like that around him and that made his blood boil. He also did not like how just a little closer she was flying to him in her little twists and loops.

Pips grabbed her wrist as she made another loop-de-loop and she jerked up surprised.

'Come on Crysta,' he said, hiding his distain, 'It's late and you can come back to talk with your _human_ tomorrow.'

Without letting her reply, Pips dragged her away. Crysta managed to shout a quick farewell to Zack before she was completely out of earshot and then she turned to Pips, yanking her arm out of his grip.

'What's the matter with you?' she asked angrily, 'I know you have never liked Zack, but that was just plain rude.'

'Then how else was I going to detach you from him? Knowing you, you'd spend all night around him and probably keep him up as well. You're the leader of the Fairy Folk now, you have responsibilities. You were planning to see your Father tomorrow morning, right? Were you planning on seeing him sleepwalking?' he said teasingly.

Pips knew full well that was not the reason he pulled her away but he sure wasn't going to tell her that. However his words had an immediate effect on her as she bowed her head guiltily. She had obviously forgotten about it.

'Hey don't worry,' he reassured her, grasping her shoulders, 'Zag seems to be set to be here for a while. You'll find time to see him.'

That brought a smile to her face, much to his displeasure.

The sound of yelling and shouting had them both turning to the direction they came from and out of the dark greenery came Batty and the Beetle boys. Batty shot past them whimpering over exaggeratingly with the Beetle boys close behind him.

'Bat the Bat! Bat the Bat!' the Beetle Boys chanted.

'Why is it always meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!' Batty cried.

Crysta giggled and took off after them, looking behind her to see Pips close behind. She gave him a knowing smirk then shot off ahead, easily overtaking the Beetle boys and Batty.

The Beetle boys lost control as Crysta caused a gust of wind behind them and Batty took the chance to fly in another direction. Before the Beetle boys could regain control, another gust of wind had them flying upside down and hanging on for dear life to their steeds antennas.

Pips put on more speed and quickly gained up on the glowing blue Fairy ahead of him. He smiled at her as he flew backwards beneath her. He matched her speed and leveled with her, neck and neck. She rolled her eyes at him and then did something completely unexpected.

Crysta flew herself downwards slowly and controlled. She let her body sink so it was completely parallel with his and she flew so close that they almost touched. Pips didn't dare to react and stared at her wide eyed. Her face was so close that he only had to lean forward to claim those plump red lips above him but as much as he was tempted, he didn't get the chance.

Suddenly that warmth was gone and was sweeping skywards. Pips was still in shock and was still flying backwards with no indication of what he could fly into. And fly into something he did.

About two seconds after Crysta suddenly flew away, Pips collided with something, hard, cold and alive. The surface he landed on gave in before he was suddenly slung forwards and into the air again. Turning around he came face to face to the thing he collided into and ever hair on his body rose on end.

In between two braches of a tree was enormous web…with an enormous spider sitting in the centre of it.

Pips had hit the spider.

It was now trying to scurry away on its web to reach the safety of the braches, almost losing its footing on the way and clicking its fangs angrily.

Pips felt his skin crawl…he hated spiders.

Just behind him he heard the failed contained muffled giggles and he turn around slowly.

Crysta gasped at Pips' meaningful look and her giggles immediately stopped. Here eyes darted from side to side, searching for an escape route. Pips continued to stare at her and she realised that he was waiting to give chase.

She took off, but not in the direction Pips expected. She flew right at him and at the last minute dodged around him and flew right through one of the many gaps in the spider's web. He quickly turned to follow but Crysta's escape had caused the web to vibrate and he found himself once again faced with a dark brown, eight legged, venom intoxicated fanged arachnid that immediately reacted to the vibrations and he had to dart away again.

Pips cursed as Crysta was disappearing from sight and he went up and over the whole web and spider before flying after her.

He was going to tickle her senseless when he caught her…and then he was going to introduce her to a nice little plant called a Venus Fly Trap!

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**I was really running out of ideas of what Zack and Crysta can do together when Zack is a human so I put a little Crysta/Pips moment instead. Once I get Zack shrunk then we should get more fun. I am open to any ideas anyone may have so either review it or message me. Thank you for reading this far! Review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wooo, I updated quicker than I thought I would. Yay the imagination is flowing. I have to be quick here because theres a storm outside. eep. Review.**

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Pips looked down through the hole of the tree and his heart sank at the empty space. She had left without him…again.

A week had passed since the humans arrived and every day Pips was becoming more distressed. Crysta's attention span was rapidly decreasing and it was becoming hard to get her to listen to anyone about the current crisis. Even Pips wasn't able to deter her thoughts from a certain blonde haired human.

In any spare time that Crysta managed to grab hold of, she was off to the edge of the forest where her human was waiting. Pips just thanked any type of higher power there was that she hadn't shrunk him yet.

A few days ago, he made his usual routine of playing his pipes to waken her and after an hour of playing, he felt something wasn't right. When he arrived at her tree, he found it completely empty and her bed leaves was cold, telling him that she hasn't been here for quite some time. He searched around for her in the fairy populated areas but she was nowhere to be seen.

He eventually found her, but in the most undesirable place he wanted to find her. She was with the human and she was in his _hair_. The human had his hair down which just passed the edge of his shoulder and Pips saw Crysta peering out of the long strands beside his neck. She was right next his ear so she didn't have to talk too loudly for him to hear her and whenever another human came into sight she would back up into his hair so she wouldn't be seen.

Pips ground his teeth at the memory and took off into the forest.

Nothing had changed since the humans arrived. The young trees were still dying and he hadn't seen a single one of them actually _do_ anything to help them. Crysta had told him, in one of those rare moments when she spent time with him, that the humans were taking 'soil samples' and were testing for anomalies…

Whatever that meant.

Pips arrived at the gathering place, where frequent meetings were being held. Pips was meant to have brought Crysta with him but he will have to trust that she will show up sooner or later during the meeting. She was the leader, not him.

As he landed alone, he noticed a few fairies rolled their eyes or turned away to hide their disappointment. Crysta's habitual absences were becoming infuriating.

Crysta's father approached him, disappointment evident in his dull green eyes and his white beard and hair shook with the negative motion of his head. He took Pips hand and led him to the side to talk privately with him.

'Thank you for coming Pips, it's a shame I can't say the same for my daughter,' he said quietly.

'Well, you know her. Her curiosity always steals her away.'

'Yes, and about that,' he said awkwardly, 'a lot of the Fairy folk are becoming worried about the lack of leadership and most of them are thinking about nominating a new leader.'

'They can't do that!' Pips said angrily, 'Crysta is the only one with the power equal to Magi Lune! She knows about our magic better than we do and she's not afraid to sacrifice herself for the welfare of the forest! She already has once!'

And I don't want that to happen again, Pips added silently.

'I know that,' the old man said defensively, 'but I don't have the respect to convince the Fairies otherwise. I've managed to assure them so far but I can't forever. Crysta needs to learn where her priorities are and only you can tell her.'

'But you're her father, isn't that your job?'

'If I was 100 years younger I may have been able to, but I'm too old, I can't keep up with her.'

Pips knew what he meant. Crysta never stayed in one place for too long so it was an almost impossibility to find her and she doesn't always return to her tree for the night. The next time he sees her he was going to have a serious talk.

'What can we do in the mean time?'

'Well…,'

Pips noticed the old man's uncomfortable posture and thought that this either wasn't going to be good or he wasn't going to like it.

'The Elders have listened to what the Fairies have to say and have agreed on the demand of nominating a new leader.'

Pips was right, he didn't like it.

'Who did they have in mind?' Pips asked.

The old man looked him directly in the eye.

'You.'

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Crysta stared at the screen that consisted of numbers, words and images that she didn't understand. Zack had told her that it was called 'data' and the images were called 'graphs.'

Zack was typing at the buttons before him and waited as a little bar slowly moved across the screen, showing the progress of the download.

Zack had smiled at how well the forest had recovered; a lot of the scientists who came with him were flabbergasted at the forests recovery rate and didn't quite know how it was possible. Zack knew, of course, but he wasn't going to tell them, it was best if the Fairies remained a secret. Besides, who would believe him anyway?

The page finally loaded up and the results for the soil samples came on screen.

'What did you find?' Crysta asked eagerly.

Zack looked over the data one last time and concluded his analysis in his head. He sat back on his chair and looked at Crysta.

'Well, we now know what the problem is,' he said slowly, teasingly.

'What?'

'I shouldn't really be sharing information to those not within the company…'

'ZACK!'

'…but I think I can make an exception,' he grinned.

Zack pointed to the screen.

'You see these graphs here? They show the level of Nitrates, Phosphates and Potassium in these particular areas…'

Zack stopped when he saw the blank look on Crysta's face. He forgot that she didn't know these things.

'Minerals?' he said to her experimentally.

Again, no reaction.

'Stuff that is in the soil to help plants grow.'

A look of understanding crossed her features. Now he was talking her language.

'Now if I put this map up,' Zack pressed a button and a 2D map of the area that was divided into sections was shown. They were marked centre, inner ring and outer ring and some sections were coloured differently. Green meant healthy whereas red meant really bad. Zack pointed to the inner circle where most of the sections were red.

'These areas here were the areas you said a lot of young trees were dying, right?'

Crysta looked at the map thoughtfully, trying to picture where in reality the map was showing. She nodded her head confidently and Zack clicked on a red sector. Graphs flashed up again and Zack began to explain.

'The mineral level here is extremely low so it's no wonder the trees are dying.'

'But how is that happening? Why is the mineral level so low?'

'I have a theory ...'

Crysta looked at him expectantly and he told her what he thought.

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**Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow. chapter 7 already. Personally I hated writing this chapter but I promise it's going to get a lot better afterwards. I've been rather annoyed at the fact that I could only call Crysta's dad either 'Crysta's father' or 'the old man' cuz I have no idea what his real name is. Anyway R&R.**

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Pips stared wide eyed at the ring of Fairies surrounding him, baffled. He could not believe what he just heard.

Crysta's father told him that the Fairies wanted to make him leader, but he brushed it off unbelievingly. However, once the meeting began and the subject was brought up by the Elders, he couldn't deny it then. A sea of hands rose in the air in agreement, finalizing the decision.

Pips had to fight this. Crysta had been trying so hard to keep things flowing, he was not about to let her efforts be pushed aside like this. Yes, she had been neglecting her duties recently but that doesn't give the Fairy people the right to make such a decision without her knowing. Pips voiced his thoughts angrily.

'If she is not here to contribute to her people then what right has she to decide? She has turned her back on us and is flaunting about with the humans. You on the other hand, have been continuously loyal and have shown great potential of leadership,' one of the Elders boomed.

'Not only that but you have managed to keep our current leader aware of her duties up until now. You willingly and selflessly support those around you and that is a quality that has been in your favor to this decision,' another Elder added.

'But what if I don't want to be leader,' Pips said desperately.

'Come on Pips!' someone, a female voice, shouted from the crowd, 'you're the best Fairy for the job!'

'Yeah! Everyone likes you and we listen to you.'

'Crysta only cares about herself!'

Murmuring amongst the crowd became louder as they voiced their opinions. All seemed to want Pips to lead them and were degrading Crysta to a level of disgrace. The noise reverberated around Pips and he felt trapped and suffocated by the cage of dependence that was slowly closing in on him.

'SHUT UP!!!'

A shocked silence settled in the area. Pips stared at the faces around him, angry and betrayed. They haven't even given Crysta a chance.

The loss of Magi Lune had been a huge blow and it had affected them all. The assurance of guidance was no longer there and Pips couldn't blame them for wanting to have someone they could rely on. It would seem that the Fairies have lost complete independence from Magi Lune's death.

'I refuse,' he said sternly quiet.

He could see and feel the shock and disappointment emitting from them, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Crysta, and he would not stand by whilst they dishonored her name.

'Crysta, is the most unselfish person I've ever met,' he told them, 'she's funny, smart, brave and spirited and she will go her own way to help others. Last year she saved a human from a falling tree, risked her life to trap Hexus and save Ferngully from complete destruction.

Now she has had the full weight of responsibility slung onto her shoulders as the new leader of our people. It's not easy. I've seen her struggle. I've seen cry at night because she feels responsible for what is happening and I've been trying to support her the best way I can.'

Only the calls of the forest continued to sound throughout his speech. In his anger he had unconsciously raised into the air, hovering above them so he could see everyone clearly.

'None of us, know what is happening,' he continued, calming down slightly, 'The Elders, who have lived a long, wise age have not come across this dilemma before, so I don't see how you can expect Crysta, let alone me, to know how to sort it.'

After venting out his rage, Pips allowed himself to float back to the forest floor.

'Instead of trying to replace her, we should help her. She cannot do this on her own and I know that I certainly couldn't either.'

Eyes peered at him from all directions. Some were in awe at the raw emotion with which Pips had spoken, some were guilt ridden and some were quite resentful at his words. Pips could practically feel the tension in the air. He was scared at what their answer could be.

'That's…that's all I wanted to say,' Pips said rather self-consciously.

The tense atmosphere was suddenly broken by a bright blue light that was flying around the trees that sheltered the area.

'Everyone! I have great news!'

Crysta angled her flight path to the centre of the trees and to the bare patch of earth where Pips was standing. She hadn't bothered to slow down in her excitement and almost stumbled into Pips as she landed roughly. Once regaining her balance, she lifted her head and spoke with a clear voice.

'I have found out why the trees are dying.'

Again a loud wave of sound filled the area as the Fairies began discussing and arguing amongst themselves. Many of them were angry at Crysta's presence, after being absent for so long and others were willing to listen to what she had to say.

The sudden uproar disturbed Crysta and she turned to Pips questioningly. She noticed he was pale and seemed rather drained, but relief was evident in his eyes. Her want for answers was immediately banished and was replaced with worry. She had never seen Pips in a state like this before and she took his face in her hands to examine him.

He silently told her that he was fine and she gazed at him cynically. The noise around them was growing in volume and it had reached a level at which Crysta wasn't going to be able to speak over. As Crysta looked around helplessly, Pips got an idea.

The drone of voices was suddenly drowned by the booming bass of percussion and the screaming vibrations of a guitar. Pips reappeared from a hole beneath the roots of one of the trees and was pulling the bright yellow tape player from its dormant home. He hit the stop button to find that the talking had died down and they once again had the Fairies attention. Pips nodded to Crysta to carry on.

She gave him a grateful smile then lifted herself into the air so she was in the centre of everyone's view.

'I have found out why the trees are dying,' she repeated, 'it is because we are growing them too quickly and too many. The soil contains things which the humans call minerals, and the plants take them from the soil to grow. However the amount of these minerals has been used up by our acceleration of growth and the recent young trees haven't had enough to survive. These minerals will naturally return to the soil, but that means that we will have to stop growing trees in those areas for a short time.'

'Where did you get this knowledge from? And what are we supposed to do instead?' another Elder demanded.

'I learned of this from the humans,' she answered, and there was an audible gasp from the Fairies.

'All we need to do, is tend to the forest as we have done before Hexus escaped and allow the trees to grow more slowly and naturally.'

'And what if this is a lie?' one of the Elders snapped, 'We've been in contact with this human before and from the example he made, he was completely untrustworthy.'

Crysta looked hurt by such an accusation, but it was fleeting as she lifted her chin determinedly.

'It's the truth.'

'Prove it.'

Her confidence wavered, how was she supposed to do that? Zack told her that these minerals were invisible to the naked eye but they came from all sorts of sources such as rain, dead leaves and other plant material. So it was literally impossible to prove their existence without the help from humans. Why did everyone doubt her?

The Elder sneered at her lack of response and turned to address the people.

'This is a serious matter. We have a leader who has been blinded by human lies and is sprouting nonsense that could lead to the discontinuing of the Forest's recovery. We do not have the _time_ which you claim we must give. The ecosystem is out of balance as it is; we do not have room for the population of animals that have been forced to come here during Hexus's attack and many of them our starving due to lack of food. Can you possibly imagine the devastation that would occur if this continues?'

Crysta's eyes were wide in disbelief and they were shining with tears. Her father flew up to her and embraced her, trying his best to comfort her despite his small size.

'That is enough, Elder. That is enough.'

The Elder nodded in understanding.

'We will continue this meeting tomorrow morning. Everyone, back to work!'

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**The Elders are bastards, I haven't given tham names because I don't plan to have them appear again in my story. It is now going to be totally focused on Crysta, Pips and Zack until the next crisis arrises. What there's more? Course there is! Review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I've re-watched the movie! I used to have it on video but my old video player totally chewed it up so I haven't watched it for many years L but I just bought it on DVD and I still love it! I'd forgotten how good the music was too.**

** Wow, I've got so many alerts on this story! I didn't think it would become this popular.**

**I've got more reviews for this than when I only had 7 chapters on my other story. Thank you everyone who has revied and thank you FinalFallenFantasy for pointing out my grammatical errors. I will keep an eye out in future and correct my past ones once I've finished the story. With no further ado, enjoy and review.**

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A few days later, the leadership issue was resolved by the decision that Crysta would remain as leader, but she would have to be under constant supervision by either Pips or someone loyal to the Elders.

It had also been suggested that she should be forbidden from making any more contact with the humans. Crysta had stubbornly stamped her foot down on that, even if they did somehow stop her from talking to Zack, it didn't stop someone else, someone non-fairy, like Batty from passing messages between them.

Surprisingly, the words Crysta had spoken at the meeting had gotten across to most of the Fairy population. This knowledge had boosted Crysta's confidence and she immediately set up a new plan which would enable the forest to expand quickly and healthily but without sucking the earth dry.

Pips helped Crysta regain the trust that she had lost and steadily, there was a noticeable improvement in the Fairies attitude towards her.

The new plan was a success. Instead of growing trees amongst the old forest, they began to grow new trees in the empty space of wasteland and left them half grown before starting on a new tree. Crysta observed the work that they had achieved over the last few days and couldn't help but feel proud. A large area of wasteland was now covered green with trees that were fending for themselves and although they weren't anywhere near the grand height of the main forest, this little wood was the start of something magic.

Pips hovered nearby, smiling at her relaxed form. This was how things should be, he thought.

His peace of mind was short lived as he watched Crysta turn her head and he felt anger swell up inside his chest. He too, directed his burning gaze to the border of trees that hid the human's camp from sight.

As if sensing Pips displeasure, Crysta sighed and brought her attention back the light show her people made as they flashed and disappeared amongst the fresh, healthy leaves. Pips knew that her mind was no longer set on what was before her.

Crysta hadn't seen Zack since the upheaval at the meeting and she had been too busy to visit him. She didn't know how long the humans planned to stay and she didn't know if she'll be able to find any free time anywhere in the near future.

Pips knew this and he was going to hate himself what he was about to do but…he placed his arm around her shoulders and called out to the Fairies working.

'We'll call it a day! We've been working non-stop and everyone should get some rest.'

Many of the Fairies looked surprised, Crysta included.

'But it's not even sundown yet,' someone replied.

'So what? I know a break when I hear one and I'm taking it,' another retaliated.

The Fairies gradually left, some uncertain by Pips decision and others taking it gratefully. Soon Crysta and Pips were the last ones left and she looked at him suspiciously.

Pips mentally cursed, he was going to waste this one rare opportunity to be alone with her just so she could see Zag.

Zag so owed him.

Pips schooled his expression to hide his distaste and pared her suspicious look with a bored one.

'You do _want_ see a certain human don't you?'

Crysta blinked in surprise and then let loose a beaming smile. Pips was soon embraced in a suffocating hug.

'Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!' she squealed

She released him and quickly flew away. She didn't even make it to the trees before Pips had caught her, wrapping his arms securely around her waist so she couldn't escape.

'Not so fast,' he purred into her ear, 'what do _I_ get from this favor?'

'Who said you were getting anything,' retorted Crysta, trying to wriggle her way out of Pips arms but no anvil.

'Well, I could just hand you over to the Elder's lackeys. I'm sure they'll find some ultimately boring task for you to do.'

Crysta didn't have to turn around to know there was a victorious grin spreading across his face and she sighed.

'What do you want?' Crysta asked cautiously.

'Hmm, good question. How about being my life long slave with a few days every season off?'

'So basically you want to swap roles?' Crysta teased.

Crysta began squirming as Pips tickled her ribs. He still hadn't loosened his grip on her and was thoroughly enjoying her helplessness and laughing smile. However she soon called for mercy and he had to stop so she could catch her breath.

'Slave for a week then? Final offer' Pips bided.

'One day,'

Pips swung her around and began heading in the opposite direction of the humans.

'Alright, alright! One week!'

Pips let her go and she immediately changed direction and flew as fast as she could before Pips could change his mind. She made a confused face when she found Pips following her.

'I never said anything about you visiting him _alone_.'

Once the camp was in view, Crysta began searching for the owner of sandy blonde hair and found him walking along the forest edge. He had his hand next to his ear and was opening and closing his mouth as though he was talking to someone. Pips thought he looked crazy but Crysta had learned that Zack had a little doodah called a 'phone' and humans used them to talk to other humans far away.

Zack smiled when he saw Crysta hover in front of his face and gave Pips a wave. He said thanks and goodbye into the phone and 'hung up.'

'Haven't seen you in a long time, I was beginning to worry. Hey what's up dude?' he said addressing Pips.

'Fine, dude,' Pips replied rather stiffly.

'What happened to your face?' Crysta blurted insensitively.

Zack placed a hand on his hairless chin.

'I shaved.'

'You what?'

'Cut it all off.'

'But why?'

'It was getting itchy.'

'Humans are weird,'

Pips' comment went unheard.

'Have you found any more anomalies in the forest?'

Pips stared at her. There was that strange human word again, anomo-what?

'No, the mineral depletion was the only devastating factor. The forest will be able to handle the others.'

'Tugular.'

What the-

'Well I'm happy to let you know that my job is done,' Zack said with a smile.

Pips perked an eyebrow whilst Crysta's face clearly fell.

'You're finished?' she said quietly.

'Hey,' he said lifting a hand for her to rest on, 'don't be upset, it just means I don't have anything to do anymore.'

'But that means you're leaving doesn't it?' Pips asked hopefully.

'When did I say that?' Zack smirked.

Both Crysta and Pips looked at him unbelievingly.

'Didn't I tell you? I'm assistant manager of this project, which means that I have to stay here to supervise until the whole project is completed.'

'So you're staying!!!' Crysta almost squealed.

'For as long as it takes.'

Pips clenched his hands into fists and crossed his arms, if he was a kettle he would be steaming. It just wasn't fair!

Zack led them back to his trailer where they could talk without being seen.

'So when is this podget going to be done?' asked Pips

'I don't know,' Pips felt like hitting him, 'This _project_ doesn't have a time limit. Since we didn't know what to expect when we got here, we could only prepare for so much.'

'Ok,' Pips growled through gritted teeth, 'then how long do you predict this project to last?'

'That's the same question rearranged' Zack mocked

'Shut up! What more do you need to do!'

'Pips! Stop it!' Crysta cried, 'You're behaving like a spoilt child! Leave Zack alone! He hasn't done anything to you!'

Crysta's angry eyes bore into him and he felt even angrier. He glared stubbornly at her but said no more.

Zack watched the two of them awkwardly; he was obviously causing friction between them and he could see Pips was becoming livid from Crysta just looking at him. Zack had a dose of male pride in that fact and was struggling not to smirk.

Pips forced himself to calm down and merely crossed his arms and pouted for the rest of the time they spent there.

Zack explained that he had ordered 'fertiliser' and that it should be arriving in the next few days. They will replenish the mineral content in the drained areas and then leave, coming back every six months or so to check on things. However, he said mainly to Pips, it is unknown just how long it will take to get the job done. They had a huge area to cover and they were on limited funds and people.

There was a knock at the door and the two Fairies swiftly hid out of sight. Zack opened the door to find one of his friends and employees holding a can of beer in his hand.

'Ya coming to have some nosh or are ya going to stay in there talking to ya-self.'

'Ha ha, I'll be out in a minute.'

'Ya better, we're planning on getting drunk. Oh and there's some big shot who said he'll be popping by the day after tomorrah so ya better save ya most sweat free clothes. '

Zack nodded to him and closed the door, looking apologetically at his tiny guests.

'What's getting drunk?' Crysta asked before flying out the door.

'I'll explain next time.'

With one last wave Crysta followed Pips and disappeared into the trees.

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**Even in the movie, hearing Pips say 'Dude' cracks me up! I have no idea if I've spelt 'tugular' right, I haven't actually heard of it until I watched this movie. Yeah, not much actually happens in this chapter but it is important. Review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry for the long wait. I've been busy. Anyway here's chapter 9. Enjoy.**

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Zack pushed the greenery aside and trudged over the crippled roots and soggy earth as he went deeper into the forest. Finally the trees thinned and opened out into a beautiful sight.

Ferngully.

It wasn't such a spectacular entrance as his first visit to the magnificent area, but he was happy to see it without the whole falling off the waterfall and being eaten by the Beetle boys thing.

Zack looked around. It was so much different now that he was bigger and he was finding it hard to get his bearings. He soon found what he was looking for, for in the distance, he saw the flickering of lights that could only belong to the Fairies.

As he came closer he noticed it was the circle of trees that he had seen all the Fairies gather in before. The place where Magi had shared her power and Crysta was made the next leader.

Zack slowly approached the sacred area; he supposed that this is what you would call a Fairy ring, only with trees instead of mushrooms. On the bark and in the branches the Fairies sat talking to each other whilst facing inwards. It would seem they were waiting for something, or someone.

Zack crouched down and sat himself down outside this cage of trees. None of the Fairies had noticed him yet and thought what a shock they'll get when they realise he was here.

He saw two lights approaching, one green and one blue. Zack keep still so they wouldn't see him, using the vast shadows from the trees to his advantage.

They two Fairies landed in the centre of the ring and immediately the talking died down. Zack was impressed at how authorative Crysta's presence was. He had never seen this side of her.

Crysta began to speak but Zack wasn't really listening. He was just watching her, observing the way her head tilted back to address the people around her and the way her creamy neck curved. Her figure hadn't changed as far as he'd noticed but so far Crysta had been twirling, flying or never standing still long enough for him to see.

Now however, he was receiving a good overall view of her as she slowly rotated to let her voice sound in all directions. Her raven hair was still short and messy, maybe a bit longer at the back, her eyes were still as bright and green as he remembered and her lips were still plump and ruby red. In fact the Crysta he knew a year ago hadn't changed at all. She was still attractively curvy and Zack's eyes strayed to her small breasts and round hips.

Zack was brought out of his daydreaming as he realised that Crysta musical voice had stopped and another voice, not equally pleasing, was addressing the crowd.

'This plan of yours may be working but you've started neglecting your responsibilities once again! I've heard that both you and Pips dismissed half a day's work so that you could visit the humans yesterday.'

Zack watched as Crysta's face contorted with worry and shock. Were her visits to him forbidden or something? Why didn't Crysta tell him?

'This is very unacceptable behavior. We've allowed you the freedom to visit the humans; however dismissing your duties to do so was a betrayal of our trust.'

What freedom? Crysta told him she had been working the whole time. What freedom were they talking about here?

'We have no choice, but to relieve you of your position and-.'

'Wait a minute!'

Angrily Zack stood to his gigantic intimidating height and glowered at the Fairy who was speaking. Many of the Fairies took off in fright and Zack had the impression of seeing stars. The Fairies who hadn't taken off were either unafraid, knew him or were too old to fly. The latter category was where the Fairy under Zack's glare was in.

'Excuse me, but who the heck has higher authority than the Leader herself? What just came out of your mouth was completely bogus. Crysta has been coming to me for help. It wasn't just some leisure trip.'

Just then Crysta flew before him.

'Zack what are you doing here?!' she hissed urgently.

Zack put up a hand to silence her but never took his eyes of the old Fairy.

'Well, what you say Grandpa?'

'Despicable.'

'What?'

'The complete ignorance and disrespect, you human, are not welcome here.'

Zack raised a bemused eyebrow, unimpressed.

'We have guarded this forest and it's creatures for many a century, what right does a human who brought a monster to demolish our home have about telling us how to do things. Crysta is young, inexperienced and not fit to carry the title as our leader. That is our final word. Now leave this forest at once.'

'No.'

'I said leave!'

'Or what Grandpa? You'll shrink me and give me a spanking? I may have been an idiot a year ago and I sincerely regret what happened but I am here to redeem that. Crysta has been working bloody hard to help this forest. From what I can see, you just want the leader title for yourself and you are just bullying Crysta to surrender it.'

'Incompetent!'

'Stop throwing big words at me dude, cuz it looks pathetic coming from someone so small.'

The Fairy Elder's eyes were bulging in anger and he was rendered speechless by it.

'Oi! You fairies up there!' Zack called to the branches above, 'If you want Crysta to remain the leader indefinitely, make your light shine blue.'

There was silence and a lack of movement from the trees. In truth it was always the Elders that made all the decisions. They were the oldest and wisest of the Fairy folk and so they knew best. The others were unsure, as they were never given the choice to decide these matters before.

Finally one fairy began to circulate around the trees glowing green, then after a few moments, it changed to blue. Others began to follow this example and soon all of the Fairies still present had formed a whirlpool of light. The majority were blue.

Zack smiled smugly at the Elder.

'Out numbered and out voted.'

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**Yay! In your face Elder. Review plz.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I think you're going to like this chappie. :) Enjoy.**

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Zack returned to the centre of the Ferngully area with a hysterical Crysta flitting around his head.

'What were you thinking! Talking to an Elder like that! I could be banished or worse, put under constant supervision!'

'Wouldn't banished be worse than supervision? Get your priorities right. I did you a favor, if no one stood up to that old fogy then who would? You should have been the one who stood up to him.'

'But…he was right.'

'What?!'

'I had neglected my duties and I am finding it really hard to keep this up. It probably would have been better if I had been demoted.'

'Rubbish.'

'It's not!'

'It is, listen Crysta, you don't know how confident you look when you speak, you had everyone's attention and they were listening to you. You _are_ making the right decisions. Doesn't your forest prove this? We've been seeing more and more healthy young growth than dying over the past week. That old man wasn't even considering the option of letting us humans help and that would have been a huge mistake.'

Crysta bit her lip, unsure what to say.

'Hey,' Zack said gently, 'You're doing fine. You've now got most of the Fairies behind you. You'll get this forest's glory back again.'

Crysta smiled, 'Thanks Zack.'

A thoughtful look crossed Crysta's face.

'Hey Zack?'

'Yeah?'

'Didn't you say you had nothing to do?' she smirked, 'Bless your heart with magic light, I give the gift of Fairy size!'

Magic flew from Crysta's fingertips and began to spin around Zack. Seconds later he was no taller than a small leaf…and falling.

'Ahhhhhhh!'

Luckily there was plenty of leaves and soft moss for him to land on. Zack landed with an 'oomph!' as they cushioned his fall and some of the leaves were blown into the air. One of which, landed on Zack and covered him like a blanket.

Crysta giggled and flew down to help him.

'Geez, ow! A little warning would be appreciated next time,' he groaned.

Crysta just laughed at him and then gasped once he was uncovered.

'What?' he asked.

He looked down at himself and nothing seemed to be out of place. He felt his face and again nothing felt disfigured but when he reached his ears, he noted they were a bit longer then normal. Running his fingertips around the edge, he followed the shape and his mouth dropped open at his newly pointed ears. A light bulb went off in his head and he slowly peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was a pair of long, transparent wings protruding from his shirt.

Crysta had curled up in dread in the air, staring at him. She remembered Zack's reaction the last time she changed him and she was preparing herself for his outburst. Maybe she wasn't completely in control of her magic yet, she had only meant to shrink him.

Zack looked at her and a huge grin began to spread across his face.

'COOL!!!'

Crysta peered over her knees cautiously.

'You're not angry?'

'Why would I be?! This is great!' he exclaimed.

'But I blew it…again.'

'Oh come on, this isn't too bad. Just think! I can now go flying with you without having Batty as babysitter.'

Crysta giggled, 'Don't be over confident. First time flying isn't easy.'

'How hard can it be?'

After about an hour, Zack was resting his bruised and sensitive body on the lowest branch of a baby tree. He was exhausted.

According to Crysta, Fairies unconsciously use magic to float in the air without needing to move their wings. Unfortunately for Zack, he was lacking in that area and found the ground coming to meet him on more then one occasion. What he didn't expect was the extreme energy drain it took to keep his wings beating and how difficult it was to steer the damn things. He now knew how Batty felt whenever he ran into a tree.

Crysta had flown off to get something to eat and when she returned she was holding a large leaf. When she landed he noticed the leaf was full of small berried fruit and even some nuts. Crysta had also picked up a small purple flower.

'Here,' she said, offering it to him.

Zack carefully held the flower like a fragile glass and smirked.

'Heh, no one's ever given me a flower before. It's usually men who give women flowers.'

'Drink from it,' Crysta stated simply, 'It will help you heal faster.'

Zack looked inside the cup of petals and cradled within was some clear liquid. I stank overwhelmingly of pollen and Zack wrinkled his nose.

'I've had cough medicine that smells better than this…you're not trying to poison me are you?' Zack teased.

'I'd never do that!' Crysta cried.

'Joking,' Zack laughed, before swigging the fowl smelling liquid down. It tasted awful too.

'At least not intentionally,' she added nervously.

Zack choked on the last bit of concoction going down his throat and stared at Crysta unbelievingly.

'You let me drink that stuff without knowing if it would poison me or not?!'

'Well it doesn't poison Fairies.'

'I'm not a Fairy.'

'You are right now.'

Zack let it drop and grabbed one of the colourful pieces of fruit before taking a bite. It was awfully chewy.

'Er… Zack?'

'Hm,' was all he said before taking another bite.

'You're supposed to open it.'

Zack paused in his chewing as he watched Crysta take another similar fruit and pull it apart, revealing the real fruity flesh and seeds within.

He spat his current mouthful out and copied.

'You know, you are going to have to be quicker at giving me the heads up about these things. Next time I might completely embarrass myself or worse.'

'…'

'What now?'

'Nothing…except there's a bug just behind you trying to eat your hair.'

Zack whirled around to confront…nothing. Crysta had tricked him.

'You little minx.'

Once they had finished their meal, Zack practiced flying as they went and stopped in places Zack had never been to before.

How he had missed this. Seeing things from a perspective that no other human being has ever done before and being able to share it with an incredible person. It was just so satisfying and you could get free food, shelter and life here just seemed so simple and stress free. Well most of the time anyway, Zack thought after remembering that old Fairy's criticism.

Zack stared at the beautiful scenery around him and then looked at Crysta who was just as absorbed in it as he was. Zack liked how relaxed she was compared to earlier and began fantasizing having those dreamy eyes locked on him instead of the scenery.

The peace was broken when a familiar voice disturbed the air.

'Ohhhhh Nooooooo!!! Put your foot on the brakes! Prepare for emergency sto-!'

Batty slammed into their tree and slid, cross eyed onto the branch they sat on.

'Batman, you alright?'

'Yeah, I'm just seeing three of you man.'

Batty shook his head to clear the dizziness.

'Holy wax fruit! You've got wings!'

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**Review plz _ (pleady eyes lol)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi! I am so sorry loyal readers for making you wait so long m(_ _)m , I really don't have an excuse, I've been lazy. I hope my neglect hasn't put you off reading. Here's chapter 11. Enjoy.**

* * *

Pips was fuming and was trying exceedingly hard trying to hide it. Zack had butted in…again and after he stormed off with Crysta following him like a lost puppy he was swarmed by Crysta's new found followers.

'What do we have to do?'

'Where is she going?'

'Is the human going to help too?'

Pips raised a hand for silence and Pips thanked Magi's wings that they quieted down. Now what? Crysta's flown off and left him with the hard work. Since he didn't know what to do with them he told them to take the day off and they'll have another meeting tomorrow morning.

Pips took off and searched blindly for the overgrown blonde chimp and Crysta. He followed a trail of broken vegetation and was confused when it suddenly came to a stop. Pips covered his face with his hands and withheld the urge to scream. Crysta had shrunk him again hadn't she?

Pips breathed in deeply and regained his composure, now if he was a wingless bimbo with an energetic woman, where would he be? Pips looked around for inspiration but annoyingly nothing came to mind.

Ok let's try rearranging this, if he was an energetic woman with a wingless bimbo, where would he be?

A sudden thought hit him and he took off into the forest.

* * *

Zack pouted grumpily as Batty rolled along the ground laughing hysterically. Once the initial shock of the fact that Zack had wings and pointed ears wore off, Batty for some reason found it unexplainably funny. He stopped abruptly when a menacing shadow hovered over him and he opened his eyes nervously to see Zack glaring down at him with his arm raised.

Batty quickly flapped his wings to escape the immediate danger and lifted himself into the air. He headed for the nearest branch and settled himself upside down beneath it.

'NO!' he cried, 'I've had enough of this animal abuse, do you see me going around and whacking the antennas on innocent creatures? Nooooo, do you know why? Because I'm not a violent hominid! Batty score 1! Homo-freak 0! Ha ha!'

'You seem to have failed to notice that you _are_ the only creature with an antenna sticking out of your skull, so you're just as much as a freak as me.'

Batty blinked.

'Batty 1, homo-freak 1,' Crysta scored.

'Crysta!' Zack whined.

'What?'

'CRYSTA!!!'

The sudden noise caused the three to jump in shock and since Batty was hanging upside down, he fell like a ripe piece of fruit.

Crysta looked around to find the owner and Zack rolled his eyes. He too began searching around, but not for the angry Pips who was bound to show up. He perked when an idea came to mind and grabbed Crysta's wrist.

'Zack what are you do-' Zack pushed a finger to her lips and then imitated the action to his own.

Zack took off clumsily into the air and Crysta gracefully followed. Zack quickly scanned the ground for the forest of mushrooms he had bumped into earlier and once spotted, he began to descend. Still a little shaky with landings Zack once again collided with a swollen, fat stemmed toadstool and accidentally broke the umbrella shaped dome.

'Oops.'

Crysta hovered beside him and shook her head disappointedly at the damage.

'Sorry,' Zack muttered quietly.

Zack once again took hold of Crysta's hand and led her into the labyrinth of tree-like fungi. Once they were fairly well in, Zack stopped beneath a fairly wide stretched mushroom and sat down against its stem.

'Zack, what are we doing?' Crysta whispered.

'Hiding' Zack grinned.

'Why?'

'Because the first thing that moody red head is going to do is whisk you away and work you 'till you drop and then when will you get the chance to see me next? I have nothing to do right now but that could change in a heart beat, because like you, I'm the leader.'

'Right,' Crysta says drolly, 'And for me, like you, things could change in a heart beat so that was a rather pointless argument.'

'Yeah,' Zack says uncertainly, but conviction returns to his eyes, 'But the difference between you and me is that I have a limited time here, I have…two weeks, three weeks maybe. You have all the time in the world.'

'You could stay here,' Crysta says suddenly.

Zack's eyes widen in surprise and his mouth goes dry. He swallows. The offer was tempting him with wide green eyes and a plump lip being slowly massaged by perfectly white teeth. Zack mentally shook his head to clear it of rather…naughty thoughts and tried to think it out rationally.

'I-er ah-hem, I have an organisation to run now and…'

Zack caught a flicker of green out of the corner of his eye and he motioned for Crysta to get further under the mushroom.

'Crysta,' Pips said darkly, somewhere above, 'I know you're in there.'

Zack saw Crysta shiver at Pips's tone and he had to admit that he sure didn't want to be the one on the receiving end of Pips's anger.

'Crysta, if you're not out in three seconds I'm coming in to get you.'

Crysta turned to Zack but he shook his head.

'One'

Zack quickly but quietly crawled to the brim of the shadow the mushroom created and peered into the space above.

'Two'

Pips's voice was closer and Zack ducked his head back in again, it could just have been the rush of adrenaline that made it seem like Pips was directly above them. There was a thump of something landing.

'Thr-'

Zack ran into the stem of the mushroom, startling Crysta and effectively knocking the whole thing over. Zack didn't waste any time grabbing Crysta's hand and leading her in the opposite direction.

Pips didn't expect the perfectly stable toadstool to suddenly fall and therefore fell with it before beating his wings madly. Shooting up into the air, he saw glimpses of something moving between the gaps of mushrooms. He had them now. He dived down and effortlessly manoeuvred around the stems, gaining distance with each turn. Pips grinned triumphantly.

However as Pips gained up, something didn't seem right. They were heading for the edge of the mushroom forest and would soon be clear of it so Pips shot upwards and waited. He groaned in embarrassment and disappointment as a large beetle scurried away from the mushrooms and into the forest growth. How the heck did he lose them?

'CRYSTA!!!'

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere further back, Zack and Crysta were sniggering under a bell-like blossom.

'I can't believe that worked.'

'Yeah, he flew right past us and didn't even notice.'

The two fell into a fit of giggles and began imitating Pips reaction when he found out it was a dung beetle he was chasing. They eventually ran out of breath from laughing so much and lay down to rest on the warm earth.

As they caught their breath with the occasional giggle escaping, they gazed at each other, pleased with themselves.

'You know I'm going to be in so much trouble when Pips does find me,' Crysta said with a small unworried smile.

'Then we'll have to prolong the scolding as much as we can then, won't we?' Zack grinned back.

They fell into another fit of giggles and Zack rolled over unwittingly. There was a small cry from Crysta as Zack accidentally rolled into her and he turned around to make sure he didn't hurt her. However he found himself in a bit of a predicament when he did.

Half his body was hovering over her and he was supporting his weight on one elbow beside her head. Their faces were close enough for the few strands of blonde locks that had escaped his ponytail tickled Crysta's cheek.

She was staring up at him with wide bright green eyes and Zack's sudden closeness had her unconsciously biting her lip nervously. The way he was looking at her had her heart fluttering like startled butterfly and she self-consciously drew her hands up to her chest. She observed the way his dark brown eyes trailed her face and lingered obviously on her lips. His own lips were parted as breathed silently and for some reason Crysta was mesmerised by them.

They simultaneously raised their gazes to meet the others and at an unspoken signal, Zack lowered his head until their lips met.

* * *

**Again I'm sorry for the wait. Please review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**He he he, things are getting hot, ah-hem. I enjoyed writing this chapter and I worked hard on it. Hope you enjoy it too. R&R**

* * *

The next few moments were a blur. Crysta had forgotten how to think and all she could register were the dizzying sensations of Zack's hot lips against hers. The action was familiar and Crysta vaguely remembered doing something like this before, she also remembered that she had pulled away.

That first time had been strange and new, and at the time she didn't even know what it was. She knew now, that it was called a kiss and it was something that a male and female fairy would share in private. There was also more but her father's face had become so red after just explaining about kissing that she let it drop and decided to ask him another time.

However her leadership responsibilities had thrown her curiosity from her mind and now it was coming back as she felt a warm broad hand stroking hesitantly, but firmly along her side. The emotion that was fast sweeping over her was alien and the speed of which the feeling was hitting her was frightening.

Crysta turned her head to break the kiss and put a little distance between them by placing a hand on Zack's chest. She hadn't realised just how long they had remained lip locked as both of them were equally out of breath and were panting heavily.

'I…' Crysta began, pausing a moment to find the right words, 'I feel…strange.'

Zack gazed at her with hazy eyes and blinked when he realised she had spoken. Crysta, as beautiful as she was lying beneath him, looked slightly uncertain and scared. She really was an innocent virgin, Zack's brain screamed delightedly. Restraining his thoughts from going wild, Zack forced himself to sit up and remorsefully left the warmth that Crysta emitted.

'Sorry, I guess I lost myself for a moment.'

Zack stood up and brushed off his clothes and then extended a hand to Crysta, who gave it a cautious stare before grasping it. Zack guided her out from under the flower and noticed that the day was coming to an end. Still holding hands, they wandered around aimlessly, savouring the time they had left and making it last as long as possible.

Eventually the light dimmed to a vibrant pink and Zack had to return. He gave Crysta one last embrace and stole a quick peck on the lips.

'So, when shall we meet up again?' he asked.

Crysta blushed and replied nervously.

'Well, Pips is going to kill me, so I can't imagine it will be any time soon…'

Her words were stolen as Zack kissed her feverishly. Whatever she was going to say went completely out of her mind. Zack pulled back and watched Crysta, glassy eyed, trying to regain composure but he didn't let her. He brushed his cheek against hers and whispered huskily in her ear.

'When shall we meet up again?'

'I-I d-don't know,' she stuttered.

Wrong answer. Crysta gasped as Zack pulled her closer and began trailing hot wet kisses down her neck.

'Ah! I-I'll send Batty to tell you when I'm free,' she managed to get out, a little embarrassed at how high pitched her voice went.

Zack seemed satisfied with that answer and released her neck from his attentions. However he did not dare let her go yet, because during some point her legs had lost the capability of standing and she was using him for support. Zack chuckled and helped her find her feet.

Once recovered, Crysta reversed the magic and Zack became a wingless human once again. He flashed her a smile and slowly walked away, throwing the occasional glace over his shoulder.

Crysta stayed where she was and watched Zack leave. Touching her neck gingerly, she found her skin was hot from where Zack last touched her and unexplainably wished he'd come back and do it again. Blood rushed to her cheeks at the thought and she hugged herself self-consciously. She was going to have to have a very adult conversation with her father when she got back.

She took off towards home, unaware that she was being watched.

Pips slowly relaxed his jaw; his teeth ached from being clenched together for so long. Pain finally registered from his hands and Pips jerked them open. On his palms were deep red welts where his nails dug in but luckily he hadn't drawn blood. Besides the physical pain, there was an agonising ache in his chest, like someone had tied a noose around his heart and was squeezing it for all its worth. He was jealous, angry, heart broken and he could do nothing against the tide of his emotional shock as he saw the two share an intimate moment which he had only dreamed of.

He had been angry at first. When Zack had forcefully kissed her, Pips was furious that he had dared to do such a thing and was prepared to fly down there and tear him apart when he saw something that tore his own heart in two. Crysta was kissing him back. At that point Pips could only stop and stare.

Now that Crysta was out sight Pips could no longer keep it in. He screamed.

Crysta stopped in mid-flight. The heart wrenching cry that pierced the tranquil atmosphere echoed in her ears and she felt a chill crawl up her spine.

She took off again, flying as fast as her wings could take her back to the point where she and Zack had parted. The cry had unmistakably belonged to her childhood friend and she feared for his safety as she couldn't imagine what had caused him to cry out like that.

Once there, she called out for him and searched for him desperately. She let out a relieved sigh when she found him sitting curled up on a tree branch and came in to land.

'Pips, thank goodness you're alright. I thought something awful had happened to you.'

Pips said nothing as he stood from his perch, he didn't even look at her when he took off, heading in the direction of Ferngully.

Crysta worriedly flew after him; she understood that he was angry at her and he needed some space, nevertheless he did slow down occasionally for her to catch up, indicating that he wasn't abandoning her completely.

Pips hovered by her tree and waited for her to enter it first. He was being strangely well mannered and that had Crysta on edge. She flew inside and waited for him to let himself in, turning to face him, she was surprised to find he wasn't there. She quickly flew to the entrance and saw Pips's green trail heading for his own tree.

'Pips!'

Crysta chased after him, she couldn't stand this distance that had suddenly erupted between them. What was wrong?

Pips made no notion that he had heard her and continued unhurriedly to his home. He habitually situated himself on the blooming fungi that grew inside his tree and laid on it like a hammock. Crysta soon appeared at the entrance.

'Pips, what is wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong,' he said impassively, closing his eyes.

Crysta flew up and knelt next to him. Sensing her presence, Pips reopened his eyes.

'I know that's not true.'

Suddenly Pips sat up, startling her. His beautiful green eyes that were usually sparkling with mischief were dark and cold. Crysta's own eyes widened at the difference and ignoring the unease she felt, she brought her hands up to cup Pips face.

'Pips w-'

'Why are you here?' he interrupted, again using an impassive tone.

Crysta's heart sank and she let her hands drop. She stared at him unbelievably and warm tears sprung to her eyes.

'Because I'm worried about you. Why won't you talk to me?'

'Why are you talking to _me_? Why don't you go find you're lover boy to talk to?' Pips spat.

Then she understood. Heat rushed to her face and she wrung her hands together nervously. He had seen.

'But I don't want to talk to him right now; I want to talk to you.'

'I don't want to talk,' Pips ground out angrily.

He laid back down and turned on his side, facing away from her. Tears began rolling down Crysta's cheeks.

'Why?' she breathed, choking on her sobs, 'What does Zack have to do with us? You're my best friend…why won't you talk to me!'

Pips didn't reply and remained unmoved.

'I thought our friendship was stronger than this,' Crysta whimpered.

Pips snapped and whirled around to come an inch from Crysta's face.

'Friendship,' he hissed. 'You're going on at me about friendship when you're the one who keeps abandoning me to sort out your problems and save your skin from the Fairy council. If it wasn't for me you'd be demoralised, deemed untrustworthy and have no leadership title at all.'

Crysta had backed away from Pips's verbal assault but he pursued her until her back was against the tree. He caged her with his arms and made sure she couldn't escape him. His expression softened when he realised how much he had frightened her and wiped away a solitary tear.

'Do you know why I fight for you?' he asked softly, 'Do you know why I've put up with it for so long?'

Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she couldn't find her voice. She bowed her head, neither as a positive or negative reply.

Pips tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her tear streaked face to him.

'I love you, Crysta.'

* * *

**KYAAA! What will Crysta do?! Go for the hot dashing blonde or the fiery jealous redhead, choices choices, well you know what to do, REVIEW!!!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hya! I worked hard on this so I hope you enjoy it! Again sorry for the wait, this time I was ill and had uni work. Not a good combo. Well here's what you've all been waiting for! Chapter 13! It's not unlucky so read it lol.**

* * *

Zack was awoken by a constant chatter of noise; he turned over in his sleeping bag and groaned when he saw the hour that his digital clock was reading. He slowly sat up and began finding some odd pieces of clothing that would make him look at least presentable.

As he slowly applied each piece of clothing, he noticed the noise he had awoken to was someone speaking, or more accurately, arguing.

Zack unzipped the tent and stepped outside into the dim morning light. Around the unlit campfire were a few of Zack's crew who also couldn't sleep through the noise and standing in the middle was the source of their displeasure. Zack's second in command was currently rubbing his eyes in frustration and was waiting for the man he was facing to stop jabbering.

There were two of them, the one talking was short, podgy and had fashioned his facial hair into a pointy beard and moustache. His short black hair was thinning at the front of his crown and he held his small nose up in a very unpleasant and snobbish manner.

At first glance, Zack didn't like him, and the other man had him on edge. He was very tall, muscular, donning a broad rimmed hunting hat upon his head and owned a sheathed machete at his belt. He was clean shaven with a large jutted chin and had small dark predatory eyes.

Zack approached them groggily, relieving his second in command from the small man's verbal onslaught and selflessly took it onto himself.

'Oh, are you the man in charge of this Green Party?' the man said, suddenly taking a sweet tone, 'It's about time someone came to sort out these useless followers. We've been denied a suite with luxury accommodation, can you believe that? Surely people of our standard deserve the best, don't you agree? Now after you've fired your employees would you please be so kind as to show us to our hotel? We've had a long journey and are absolutely exhausted. The trek here was just ghastly, we had to have 5 slav-er I mean people help us push the jeep out of the mud, that's why were so mucky you see,' he said, pointing to a few minuscule specks of dirt on his trousers, 'and once it got dark we couldn't sleep a wink, the animals were making such a racket we thought the dead would rise.'

'Shame they didn't,' someone muttered.

The man scowled in the general direction of who had spoken. Then something caught his attention, he froze with only his eyes moving. They swivelled and swerved until the tiny insect they were following came dangerously close to his face then, SLAP! The man opened his hands to reveal the squished remains and looked around in an expectant ignorance. When he noted that no one was willing to lend him a tissue he turned to Zack again expectantly.

'Look sir,' Zack said whilst he had the opportunity, 'I can kind of get the idea of the service that you are used to, but as you can see, you are standing at the edge of a jungle and there are no hotels of any standard for at least 50 miles. You can't expect us to provide you with luxury accommodation; we're a forest protection group, not room service.'

The man's eye twitched. He lowered his insect soiled hands and carelessly wiped them on his trousers. Sweat rolled down his podgy face and seemed to glisten angrily.

He turned his nose up at Zack and dropped all the sickly sweetness that his voice held earlier.

'Well then, Mister?'

'Zack Young.'

'_Master_ Young, where do you expect us to sleep?' he said rudely.

'I beg your pardon?' Zack replied.

'You've been expecting us, yes? It's very rude to be welcoming your guests like this. After all, we are the ones who'll be negotiating with you.'

'Negotiating? What for?'

Again the man's eye twitched.

'Didn't your superiors even inform you we were coming or why?' he huffed, obviously irritated.

Zack vaguely remembered being told some hotshots were coming, but he thought they were the usual tourists or Green supporters. He also wasn't expecting them to come at 3:30 in the damn morning.

'Rather they didn't tell us "who" was coming, usually when we get a call from them it's to inform us that a donator is coming to see how their money is being spent. I would have thought that "negotiations" would be held in the main office back in Sydney.'

'We tried, but they told us that the man completely in charge of this project is you, _Master_ Young.'

'Just Zack, if you don't mind,' Zack ground out.

'Zack then, I would like to discuss the details with you at some point, but before that, we'd like somewhere to sleep and a decent meal, and a bath if that's possible.'

Zack groaned in annoyance but nevertheless began ordering his group to set up the spare tent. Somehow it felt like it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Crysta was curled up in her bed of leaves but throughout the night she hadn't slept a wink. She turned over, searching for a more comfortable position. Her body screamed for sleep; however her brain was working overtime.

Why had it come down to this? Yes, she knew Pips harboured feelings for her and yes, she had feelings for him but she didn't believe that they went any further than brotherly love. That is, until he confessed to her.

Pips had been her childhood friend for as long as she could remember, he had always been a stubborn, possessive and somewhat problematic child. Once he owned something, he rarely did let go of it and he had such a temper that hardly any Fairy children would dare go near him.

The first time Crysta had met him, she thought he was an evil spirit or something. Constantly going around with a baby hollow reed in his mouth and bombarding anyone who upsets him with nuts and rotten berries. Almost anything would trigger him off.

For a couple of weeks, Crysta kept her distance from him, so not to be at the end of his temper but even though he was aggressive, rude and plain uncanny, she also thought he was funny, energetic and downright naughty. He was unpredictable and Crysta found herself always watching him to see what he would do next. He also ended up being a bad influence on her.

Once when her father and still alive mother took her to a family gathering she became so bored that took a piece of fruit with dark juices and instead of eating it, she painted on herself like what she had seen Pips do with dirt. It took weeks to wash out and in the meantime she was scolded by her parents and was receiving a lot of unwanted attention at school. She even caught Pips's attention.

Shortly after that with her cheeks still stained, Pips approached her and looked at her as though sizing her up. At the time Crysta was terrified but he just stood before her and said nothing. Later that day, Pips sat alone as usual while the rest of the class sat as far away from him as possible and he was unnaturally quiet. He didn't speak out or anything he usually did during class, it seemed that for once, he was actually behaving himself. However when the teacher turned his back to pick up the flowers he had spent the class explaining about, Pips smirked and all hell broke loose.

Suddenly the whole class scattered and covered their faces as the most horrible smell engulfed the area. Crysta eyes watered and she covered her nose and mouth as best she could. She fought the instinct to fly away and went to investigate just what Pips had done. Next to her unconscious teacher were the flowers he was about to show and inside them was a small nest of stinkbugs.

Crysta heard snickering and she turned to see Pips smiling with a small split twig pegging his nose. He matched her gaze, eyes challenging. His expression and body language clearly said "beat that."

Crysta was shocked as Pips flew away from the scene of his crime. He saw her as a rival?!

It was that incident that had begun a competitive and tolerable friendship. Crysta met his challenge with vigour and unfortunately for her teacher and classmates, the number of pranks drastically increased. However Crysta made a limit to how far she would go into a prank and when Pips crossed that line she admitted defeat. Pips looked disappointed at first but he quickly recovered and gloated over his triumph.

Although the battle of pranks was over, their relationship was far from it. Pips began to hang around Crysta, calling her his prankster apprentice and teaching her some of his techniques such as using a baby reed as a blow pipe. Since Crysta wasn't good at those kinds of things, Pips regularly gloated being the Master prankster and Crysta would wittingly remind him he was also a Master of failing classes. The witty banter would usually end with a mud fight and a quick dip in the river.

As their bond grew, Crysta helped Pips improve his magic and tried to sink some manners into him while she was at it, and he unknowingly helped improve her stamina with his pranks and games.

Through their teenage years they stuck together, gradually gaining experience and knowledge as Fairies. Crysta smiled fondly as she recalled the day she gave him that pan flute for his coming-of-age gift and his face had lit up like the sun breaking through the clouds. He had been so happy.

Then one day, Crysta's magical gifts were noticed by non other than the great Magi Lune herself and she was put under her teachings.

Unfortunately this gave her less time to be with Pips and this put him in a very bitter mood. Thankfully he had found some new friends…or more like followers to keep him occupied when she wasn't around and hence the Beetle boys gang was formed.

Crysta sat up as her attempts at sleep were futile. Even now she couldn't get Pips's face out of her head or the pain he expressed when he spoke those three words. Her heart fluttered and her cheeks grew warm in remembrance. If she really only had brotherly affection for him then why was she affected this much?

Crysta really needed to talk to someone. Not Pips, not Zack but someone neutral and would willingly listen to her problems. With her resolve back in place, she took off in to the early morning light.

* * *

**Hmmm aren't the new two characters familiar :3 I hope you enjoyed my representation of Pips and Crysta's past. Have a few guesses on who Crysta is going to spill her problems to. Review :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Yes yes long wait I know. I hope everyone had a good xmas, I sure did :P I went away for two weeks skiing :) Anyway, a bit more plot development in this chappie. Enjoy.**

* * *

Crysta now felt a lot better now she had told someone about her feelings. She was still confused and didn't know what to do but at least she had someone who could possibly help her.

'You WHAT!!!???'

Or maybe not.

'Batty! Calm down.'

'Overload! Overload! Mental overload! Download sequence commencing at 76% capacity, interference with network at-'

In a panic, Crysta grabbed Batty's snout to stop him talking, she knew just how much Batty hated being hit back to his senses and thankfully the sudden lack of air flow had the same effect. She let go once she saw his eyes focus and backed off slowly.

'Better now?'

'Much,' he replied calmly, 'but geez, between a childhood friend and a human, it can't be that much of a difficult decision.'

'What do you mean?'

Batty gave her an incredulous look.

'Er hello? Only one of those two is the same species as you, and besides that who has known you the longest? Loved you the longest? Seems pretty clear to me…and more sensible,' he added.

'Yes I know that,' Crysta huffed, 'But Zack's just different, he's exciting, he's interesting, I can always find something new to talk about and he's so patient with me since a lot of the time I don't know what he's talking about.'

'Well I guess I should give him credit for that,' Batty muttered lowly.

'What was that?'

'Nothing! So what are you going to do?'

'I don't know,' Crysta said dejectedly.

Batty sighed, 'Well I can't choose for you, they're not my species and I'm not homosexual-'

'What does that mean? Homosexual?'

'Err never mind. Anyway I'm no Love Doctor but one thing I can think of that you can do is spend time with the both of them and pick the one you like best.'

'But I like both of them the same.'

'Do you?' Batty challenged, 'do you really?'

Crysta paused, unsure.

'Go find out, go on shoo!' Batty said, shaking a wing dismissively.

Crysta smiled and gave Batty a peck on his snout.

'Thanks Batty.'

'Alright, alright, now go you daft tree imp,' Batty said bashfully.

Batty watched until her trail of blue light faded away into the greenery and then allowed himself to fall backwards and hang upside down. Cocooning himself in his wings, Batty closed his eyes and tried to return to the dream that he was rudely awakened from.

* * *

Pips didn't feel like playing his pipes today. He'd been drifting in and out of sleep, unable to escape from the beautiful green eyes that haunted him.

It had hurt.

The shock she'd shown when he finally confessed made him wish he hadn't confessed at all. She had flown in a daze back to her tree and Pips was afraid that he had irreparably severed the bonds they shared.

Pips forced himself to sit up; lying there brooding wasn't going to help. He was going to have to talk to her when he got the chance. Making a quick decision he took off and headed to her tree, unable to wait any longer.

It wasn't much of a surprise when he arrived to find her home empty. After many time of finding her absent to visit Zack, he had predicted it, so he wasn't disappointed. Still, he had had a slight hope that she would still be there.

'Pips?'

Pips jerked his head in surprise. Behind him, hovering silently was Crysta, looking at him just as surprised.

'I didn't hear your music and I checked your tree but you weren't there…I thought you left without me.'

Pips turned his gaze to the empty space before him.

'So did I.'

Pips felt a slight breeze and felt a hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He placed his hand on top of hers and stayed like that for a moment, thinking it was the only comfort she'd be willing to give. He felt disappointment when she slowly slipped hand from under his and he closed his eyes sadly.

So it came as a surprise as he felt her press up against his back, wrap her arms around his neck and place her chin on his shoulder.

'Crysta?' he breathed.

'I'm sorry…' He heard tears in her voice, '…I've been a really bad friend to you lately and I've hurt you…I am sorry,' she whispered into his shoulder.

Pips removed her arms from his neck and turned around so he could face her. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes welled up to replace the tears she had shed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her inside, watching as she furiously wiped her tears away and obviously trying to control her emotions.

Pips gave a small smile at her attempts as she soon stood before him with her face set seriously, however her tear streaked cheeks and moisture filled eyes spoilt the effect.

'We need to talk,' she stated.

* * *

Zack couldn't believe his ears.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

'On the contrary, _Zack_, we are very serious.'

'But this one of the last Rainforests! Hundreds of endangered species inhabit it, not to mention it's the biggest oxygen producing area in the world. At least it was until your company demolished it…'

'Yes, well we're very sorry about that,' the small man said with a dismissive wave of his hand, 'but the fact is, this land is still owned by our company and we wish to develop on it. Your little party is the only thing getting in our way, so just name your price and we can both go home happy.'

Zack glared at the man before him.

'I'm sorry,' he said stiffly, 'but there's no price you can offer that can sway me. This forest has only just recovered from the onslaught it suffered last year. I won't allow you to take it down just to put up a few buildings.'

The little man's eye bulged.

'See here Mr Young! This is a huge financial investment we're talking about, we've already spent a lot on planning and we're not just building a few random buildings! We're building an entire city!'

'All the more reason not to let it happen! We have enough pollution producing cities already; if you build a city here then what's left of this rainforest will die and it won't be able to recover because the land will be poisoned!

The little man shot to his feet, knocking the stool he was sat on to the floor and glared daggers at Zack. He breathed deeply through his nose and looked like he was about to explode when a huge hand came out of the shadows and rested upon his shoulder.

Shortly after, the looming figure of the second man was brought into the light. The sole lantern that rested on the table in the middle of their dark tent cast dark shadows against his distinctive features and made him more terrifying when he peeled his tobacco stained lips into a yellow toothed grin.

His voice was deep and coarse, 'Please forgive my Boss for his untamed temper, perhaps we should continue this conversation another time, when we have all calmed down.'

Zack's hair stood on end as the giant of a man stared at him with his small dark eyes. He seemed to be waiting for approval for his suggestion but Zack also felt a chill in those eyes, they were commanding, threatening and Zack didn't want to know what would happen if he disagreed.

He nodded his head and left their tent.

The large man grinned smugly at the affect he had on the young man and then turned his attention to his still fuming superior.

'There was no need to send him away Mac, I had everything under control,' he obviously lied.

Mac just laughed quietly.

* * *

**Ooooo I think I've made Mac a little too dark but writing him like that is fun, big contrast to the light and bubbly characters I've got running around. Plz Review :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Seriously really sorry for this seriously late update, things are just not going right this month. I've been ill twice, I'm tired, stressed and had deadlines, but now I have a 3 week break so I can now focus on writing :)**

* * *

Pips gently pushed his magic into his panpipes and let it flow into the notes he played. The 3 week old sapling he was playing to began to weave through the air like a charmed snake, its budding leaves grew larger as its stem lengthened and reached to the sky.

High above, its larger brethren stretched their branches in an intricate web. Their green leaves formed a thick mesh that hid their wooden appendages from sight and filtered the sunshine into a green earthy glow.

Despite the warm and rather glorious weather, Pips did not take the time to enjoy it. He kept himself busy, trying not to dwell on the conversation that he and Crysta had that morning.

'We need to talk'

Pips steeled himself for whatever came out of her mouth. Rejection or acceptance, either way he was going to force himself to stay put, stay calm and most of all, be mature about it.

'I…'

Crysta was wringing her hands nervously and was constantly moistening her lips. Pips could almost hear the gears turning in her head as her eyes darted to the interesting patterns engraved in the bark floor, thinking of what to say.

'I do love you Pips…'

Pips suddenly felt lighter than air.

'…But I also love Zack.'

Pips heart sank to his stomach.

'I-It's hard to describe…both of you stir such feelings within me and I get so confused and I can't tell if I like one of you more than the other and both of you are such wonderful people…Pips?'

Pips was fighting furiously with himself to keep composed. His deep, rapid breathes were the only sign of anger that he allowed to show. He kept his arms firmly crossed to trap the pent up energy he could feel gathering in his limbs that were urging him to fly, urging him to find the one who shares a piece of Crysta's heart and tear him into a million pieces.

'So what do you want me to do?' he asked.

Pips looked up as he heard the flutter of wings. Crysta face was right before him and for a hopeful moment he thought she was going to kiss him. She remained transfixed in the air with her eyes freely roaming his face.

'I don't want you to do anything.'

She lent forward, resting her forehead against his and Pips instantly felt his heart beat quicken.

'You guys are the most important people in my life and I don't want to hurt either of you…that's also why I need to find out which one of you my heart belongs to, so we can all move on.'

Pips came back to reality as a bad note screeched from his pipes. He then realised that he had played for too long and too harshly. The tip of the now young tree had gone past the new height regulations and its branches had twisted and tangled themselves into stringy limbs. The trunk had also grown at a crooked angle so now it curved like a crescent moon.

Pips swore and immediately brought his pipes to his lips, completely focusing on straightening its trunk and untangling its premature branches. The tree became even taller as it was brought out of its hunched position but leaving it like that would give it extreme growing pains.

Pips sighed and searched for the next sapling.

* * *

Back in his own tent, Zack lay on top of his sleeping bag and covered his face with his hands. The chill of that tall man's eyes still lingered down his spine and a worrying fear was developing in his gut as well as some rather disturbing thoughts.

There was no way those company dogs were going to give up without a fight and he saw why they sent such an intimidating man to accompany the negotiator. Zack just wondered how much that man had to do with the negotiating; he was freely carrying a machete for goodness sake and with such a gleeful cold stare, he seemed to be hoping that Zack would refuse.

Question was what would he do if…no…when Zack refused to come to their terms. He was not going to give up on this rainforest, but would he risk his life for it?

An image of Mac towering over him with his machete in hand came to mind. His yellow grin standing out from his darkly shadowed face and glowing red eyes gazed down at him, hungry and blood thirsty.

Zack shook his head dismissively. That was a crazy idea.

Outside the tent, he heard his name being called by one of his men.

* * *

Boss paced to and fro in their large borrowed tent. He was dirty, sweaty, still fuming at Zack's insolence and over all rather agitated. This could be his big break; he could get a huge bonus for this, or even promoted and finally get the respect he deserves.

Technically he wasn't supposed to be here. The real negotiator wasn't supposed to arrive until next week and that's also when Boss's contract expires. He wasn't having his contract renewed; he was going to be replaced by 'young blood' as his employer puts it. Someone who would last longer than him, Boss thought angrily. Yes he wasn't the healthiest of people but he was damn good at his job even if there have been complaints about his aggressive methods. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

'What do you want to do about the boy?'

Boss stopped pacing and glanced at the source of his success. He found Mac around ten years ago in a small isolated town in the red desert, trying to negotiate with the mayor for land that the company could build on. Mac at the time was with the police force but was reserved for serious cases only. He had a knack with weapons and a bad habit of using them when he shouldn't. He hadn't killed anyone, but he liked to give people a little scare. The police force kept him not only because he was good at his job but also to keep an eye on him.

Shortly after bumping into him, Boss instantly had grown a liking to him and offered a position that paid much better than his policing job. He'd been with him ever since and has been a huge asset to not only his job but the company too.

'Lets not jump ahead of the game yet Mac, there's still a chance he may change his mind. However if he's still unwilling to go with our terms within four days, then I'll let you deal with him.'

Boss turned to continue his pacing. He didn't have to look to know Mac was grinning and caressing the hilt of his knife with his thumb.

* * *

**Super cheese! I cringed writing that, but to be honest I really didn't know what else to write. Romantic stuff is really not my forte yet why am I writing a romance story? Cuz I just had to! This fic is starting to turn dark...oooo_0 Review plz**


	16. Chapter 16

** I'm on a roll! I'm ill again but thankfully it hasn't effected my writing...I hope. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Plz review.**

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Crysta watched the bustling campsite from the safety of the trees. It had been three days since she had some time with Zack and it had not only been down to her hectic schedule but it seemed Zack was having a busy time as well.

Every morning up to this point she had come down to see him, first to discuss the progress of the recovering forest and secondly to find out when he would have some free time to spend with her. However these couple of days have been different. Zack seemed to have grown weary and was either sound asleep in his tent or was dealing with some sort of problem with dark baggy eyes. This change in Zack's health was starting to worry Crysta.

She also had noticed that another tent had been put up and that most of the humans avoided it like a stink bug. Some mornings she had seen Zack enter it rather reluctantly but she had to leave by the time he, and possibly other inhabitants came out.

This mysterious tent was eating at her patience and her curiosity level was going through the roof.

Who or what was in there? Where did it come from? Why was it affecting Zack so? Why were the other humans avoiding it?

She wanted desperately to ask Zack but she hadn't seen him at all this morning, and even if she did, she had a feeling that he would be as equally busy as he had been for the past few mornings. She was very tempted to check the tent herself but she knew that if she did, she could either get into trouble…or get into trouble. Zack would tell her off as well and she didn't want to add any more worries onto his shoulders right now, especially in the state he was in.

Crysta spotted movement out the corner of her eye and her heart leapt when she saw it was Zack and his second of command walking towards camp. They headed into the centre of the campsite and parted ways with a pat on the back. Zack's second in command heading for the trailer whilst Zack went to his tent.

Crysta quickly took off. Without a care for subtlety, Crysta rushed into the campsite and slipped through the gap just before Zack fully closed the zip.

'Crysta?!' Zack whispered harshly, 'what were you doing?! That looked reckless!'

'Oh who cares,' Crysta snapped back. 'What about you? I haven't seen or heard from you for days and I must say you look completely awful. Is everything ok?'

Zack sighed and collapsed on his sleeping bag.

'Yes and no, I've been working non-stop for days helping with the depositing of fertiliser and I've hardly got any sleep. Roberts-my next in command, just ordered me to take the day off,' Zack gave a half hearted laugh, 'Really grateful for that, I'm exhausted. As for the project, the fertiliser is doing a good job, the mineral count has almost reached normal and it shouldn't take long before we have a completely healthy forest.'

'That's great…so who or what's in that new tent?'

Zack rubbed his eyes tiredly and gave Crysta a sad stare.

'There are some really greedy people out there Crysta, heck I used to be one of them before I met you. I only thought about myself. I didn't think much of it when they were cutting this forest down, I was getting paid so what did I care?'

Crysta tilted her head inquisitively.

'Those same people are trying to get rid of the forest again and the only thing getting in there way is us, The Green Team.'

Crysta's eyes became wide in shock and she stared at him, begging to explain.

'The humans who had the trees cut down had purchased a very large portion of this land…made a claim on it, as in claimed ownership over it,' he elaborated at her confused expression.

'But…the land doesn't belong to anyone. It is shared amongst everything, the trees, the animals…' Crysta argued.

'But humans don't see it that way,' Zack interrupted, 'they divide the land up so that they can use in for they're own personal use. The humans, who own this land cut down the trees for wood, so they can build with it, make furniture…make things that humans use. And right now they want what they own back.'

'So they want to cut all the trees down again?! What can we do?! We have no way of fighting that monster they brought last time and-' Crysta gasped, 'what if they release Hexus again?'

'They can't start demolition of this forest with a protection group covering it, that's us. The people in that tent right now are trying to convince us to ditch this project so they can gain back the rights to do what they want with this place.'

Zack gave her a determined look.

'Believe me. I won't let that happen.'

* * *

Roberts made sure no one was looking before he entered the tent.

'Finally, Mr Roberts has decided to show up,' Boss said grouchily. 'You're late.'

'My apologies,' Roberts ground out. 'It took a while to convince Zack to take the day off and leave me in charge. Bloody environmentalist.'

'Indeed. So to business, you said you have a plan that would put Mr Young out of my hair and you, my good sir, will receive a bountiful reward if this plan succeeds.'

'There's no 'if' about it. I can guarantee that I can get this stupid Green party out of here overnight and save you thousands of dollars worth for demolition.'

Boss raised an eyebrow in interest, 'Oh? Then please elaborate on this plan of yours and I'll be the judge if it's of any benefit.'

Roberts eyebrow twitched.

'As you have noticed we are in the peak of the summer season and we're not due any rain for at least 4 weeks.'

Boss's face dropped in dissatisfaction, 'We're here to discuss the downfall of the Green party, not the weather.'

'I'm getting to that!' Roberts said irritably, 'We also haven't had any rain for two months so the ground is pretty much bone dry.'

Roberts took a folded piece of paper from his shirt and opened it up to reveal a map of the area with multicoloured patches.

'What's this? A picture of your grandmother's patchwork quilt?'

'This is a map of the forest,' Roberts continued, ignoring Boss's comment, 'or the old forest before we started doing work here. These coloured areas show the mineral levels, red being bad, green being good, you get the idea. Now these bad and semi-bad areas are still being fertilised.'

Roberts pointed to vast areas of red and orange patches. Boss looked on, clearly bored.

'This fertiliser has been specially designed and tested to be completely harmless to its surroundings and ecosystem by unintentional poisoning.'

Boss was on the verge of asking Mac to escort him out of the tent and force him into silence. All this gibberish wasn't helping and he had yet to here something even remarkly useful.

'The fertiliser however has a safety flaw. It's perfectly safe when it's dry, but when wet, its very flammable.'

Boss looked at the map in a new light and re-observed the large areas where the fertiliser would be placed. In a good wind, a huge forest fire would destroy the entire forest.

'Arson.'

'You can't protect a forest, if there isn't one in the first place,' Roberts concluded.

* * *

**Dun dun dun!!!! And the plot thickens, will Boss's evil plan succeed? Will Crysta ever find out who her heart belongs to? If you want to find out, then help my motivation by reviewing :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello again, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed, they are really appreciated. This story is in the 90 region for reviews so if you'd like to make it 100, that would make me really happy! R&R enjoy.**

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'I don't like him.'

Mac spoke up from his shadowed corner. His intimidating gaze was still locked on the flap of the tent where Roberts just exited moments ago.

'Oh come now Mac, it's a brilliant idea! The forest will be burned to the ground within days, Mr Young will have no forest to protect and we don't even have to lift a finger. Consider this a well earned break. I know you were looking forward to having your own way with him but come on don't be so sour about it. They'll be plenty of opportunities for you to have fun in the future.'

Boss began humming happily and rummaged in his borrowed back pack for an equally borrowed snack.

'What makes you think he'll actually do it?'

Boss paused in rummaging and turned to face Mac.

'Now see here Mac, you're acting like a spoilt child. Just because you didn't get the dirty work which I know you love, there is no need for that jealous attitude. I've said it before, there will be other opportunities.'

'This has nothing to do with the fact that he stole my fun. That man smells traitorous. There was an air about him I just don't like; it was like he didn't really feel comfortable with what he was doing. I sensed fear,' Mac glowered.

'Who wouldn't be afraid when you're around? You're over thinking things,' Boss dismissed, finally unwrapping a chocolate bar.

'You wish I was,' Mac muttered angrily.

* * *

Zack had nodded off, unable to stay awake any more.

Crysta stared at his handsome face and sighed. The fate of the forest was no longer in her hands and it all rested on her tired friend's shoulders. Crysta let the helpless tears run down her face. She was afraid. She feared for the well being of one of her dearest friends and love and also for the future of her home.

There was nothing she could do.

She silently flew to the tent door and grabbed the thing called a zip with both hands. She pulled with all her strength and the zip slowly slid upwards. She slipped through the small gap she created and gradually made her way out of the camp unseen.

She flew dazedly through the forest, her thoughts lingering on Zack. Ferngully came into her sights without her really remembering how she got there. This beautiful scenery filled her heart with joy and for a moment she just stared at it, engraving it into her memory. Uncontrolled tears ran freely down her face and she barely acknowledged the soft sweet music that weaved through the air from the glade.

She floated over impulsively and gently sat herself down on the rocks. She stared numbly into the water, watching the rippling current distort the light and create waving patterns on her skin.

At her arrival, the music stopped. She heard the distinctive flutter of wings and then a shadow hovered over her. Crysta couldn't bring herself to look at him.

Pips worriedly took in Crysta's depressed posture and sat down beside her. He took her chin in his hand and turned her head towards him. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were still producing more. She held the most miserable expression he had ever seen and he hadn't seen her quite like that since she was a child.

He didn't say anything, he didn't ask, he just wrapped his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. Crysta accepted his embrace gratefully and wrapped her arms around his waist. She hid her face in his chest and began to weep profoundly.

Pips let her stay there as long as she needed, comfortingly rocking her and stroking her back. Soon her cries became silent and the flow of tears dried up.

Crysta felt so comfortable in Pips' arms. The warm hands that slid up and down her back were assuring and protective and Crysta didn't find it hard to completely relax into his embrace.

'Thank you, Pips.'

'Take your time,' he whispered into her hair.

Crysta smiled at Pips' patience. No one understood her quite like him.

Eventually she explained what had happened and expressed her worry for Zack and the forest. Pips remained silent as he listened and surprisingly did not tense or become angry when she mentioned his love rival.

'We'll need to inform the council about this,' Pips eventually said.

Crysta looked at him in surprise.

'We need to let everyone else know what's going on and if worse comes to worse where Zack is unable to protect the forest, we need to think of a plan of action. We should have thought of doing this a year ago,' he said with a frown.

'What do you mean?'

'We should have started thinking of how we can fight the humans.'

Crysta stared at him wide eyed.

'You can't be serious.'

'I'm not saying we fight those who have been helping us,' Pips added quickly, 'I admit, whatever those humans with Zack have been doing has helped the forest a lot but we don't have any idea of what to do if other humans want to destroy it.'

Crysta bowed her head, knowing Pips was right.

'I really don't like the fact that all we can do is have faith in that human of yours, since it's a human problem, only humans can deal with it.'

Crysta again nodded in agreement…and then gasped as she had the craziest idea.

'Pips! That's it!'

She shot up from his lap and hovered excitedly in the air.

'We could talk to the human's ourselves!'

Pips remained sitting on the rock and stared at her in disbelief.

'Are you crazy?!'

'But it makes so much sense! Zack is not the only protector of the forest, we are too! If we make the humans aware that there are protectors that inhabit the forest then they'll have no choice but the leave it alone!'

'How does that make any sense?!' Pips blurted out hysterically, 'Besides why would those humans listen to us? We're the size of bugs; they'll either ignore us or squish us.'

Crysta spun in the air giggling and Pips was beginning to think she really had lost it. She then set her eyes on him and Pips did not like the mischievous twinkle they were emitting.

'Bless you heart with magic light, I give the gift of human size!'

* * *

**Ha ha! Crysta's at it again! A human sized Pips? It just came to me that if Crysta can shrink and un-shrink Zack, why not do the opposite? Gonna be so funny! Review**


	18. Chapter 18

**THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED!!! WE'VE NOW HIT THE 100 MARK!!! SO HAPPY!!! :) THIS MY THIRD STORY THAT I'VE WRITEN ON FANFICTION AND ITS THE FIRST TO GET 100 REVIEWS!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

ok now over my hyper moment, I'll again calmly thank everyone who's reviewed and I'd like to thank everyone who has taken their time to read my story and reach 6897 hits. High numbers make me happy lol. With no further ado please read and review :)

* * *

A sudden downpour of leaves filled the area and Pips' vision. Something hard and rough suddenly pressed irritably against his back and he was finding it hard to keep balance. Once he found his footing and the foliage ceased falling, Pips couldn't help but stare at himself in shock and amazement.

He had grown far bigger than normal human height. He was hunched over as his head and shoulders had hit the branches of the trees and could practically see the whole area from a birds eye view. Being used to either being smaller or the same size as the things around him, he was more than a little freaked to be seeing things from a hugely different perspective.

He could also feel different textures beneath his feet, because his foot span was so big. From his right foot he could feel the rush of water against his toes and the rocky edge of the stream under the ball of his foot. The rest of his foot rested on either dry sandy ground or luscious green grass. Having never felt these textures all at once before had him very confused indeed.

A flicker of blue near his face had him frowning disapprovingly.

'Crysta if you don't turn me back right now, I'm going to go over to the human camp and trample on it.'

Crysta had to cover her ears at the volume of Pips voice and looked at him carefully, trying to think of what she did wrong. She was also trying to suppress her giggles. If she had done this to Zack, she would've been terrified at his reaction, but since this was Pips, it didn't matter at all.

Crysta shrugged her shoulders and told him, 'I guess I could take a bash at it.'

Pips frowned, clearly unable to hear what she said.

'I'LL TRY!!!' she shouted.

Pips sighed and prepared himself, although he wasn't sure what to prepare for.

Crysta summoned magic to her hands and it sparkled and flew from her fingers. She willed the magic to shorten, to shrink, to reduce and hoped it worked better than when she first tried with Zack.

She stopped the magic flow and opened her eyes. A smile bloomed on her face.

Pips wasn't fairy size but at least he was the size Crysta had first intended him to be. Human size.

Pips quickly looked at himself and another frown graced his face.

'This is still too big.'

'No it's not, it's perfect. Now we can talk to the humans on their turf.'

'We?' he said, looking down at her to demonstrate an obvious size difference, 'I don't see you turning into a giant fairy.'

Crysta made an incoherent sound and placed her arms behind her back, innocently looking around with no intention of changing herself.

Pips rolled his eyes.

'You owe me big time for this.'

Pips leapt into the air to take off...only to fall face first into the ground. He spat out a mouthful of dirt and growled in frustration. Looking at his wings accusingly, he made them beat so frantically that they made a loud droning noise and everything within a 2m radius either bowed over or blew away. Pips barely even lifted himself off the ground.

Collecting what was left of his dignity, Pips picked himself up and brushed off the dirt.

He ignored Crysta, who hovered near by, clearly restraining the hysterical laughter that was about to burst.

'Lets go then,' he said bitterly.

Pips began walking and had to resist his natural urge to take off. It was going to be an interesting morning.

Reaching the edge of the forest, Pips peered at the human campsite nervously. He felt uncomfortable in his human getup, his physical size and weight made it impossible to fly and he was constantly conscious of Crysta who was standing on his shoulder and hiding in his hair.

'You ready?' she asked softly.

'As I'll ever be,' he commented, 'I still don't see why I'm the one who had to be enlarged seeing as you're the one who's going to be doing all the talking.'

'Well...I didn't know what would happen if I became human size. For all I knew I might have become too human and lost my magic and then how would I be able to change back?'

Pips blinked. He never thought of that, but then he frowned and thought she probably hadn't either at the time she enlarged him. He let out a huge sigh, personally he thought that she had screwed up too many times to dare try doing anything to herself.

He quickly checked if he still had access to his magic and was happy to find that he had. Not that it would be of any use at this point.

'So where am I going?'

Crysta pointed straight ahead.

'You see that tent right at the back? The one that's slightly bigger than the others? Head for that one.'

Pips carefully avoided stepping on any shrubbery underfoot and then once clear, strode rather stiffly towards the camp.

Many of the humans stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

Pips ignored these probing eyes and continued onwards. Never really having much of a problem with self-consciousness, he didn't fully understand the feeling of it until now. Being almost completely exposed with only his yellow petaled skirt covering his privates, as well as his inhuman ears and wings, to them he must look really weird.

He almost got through the campsite unchallenged, until one of them finally broke out of their staring stupor and stood in his path.

'Whoa whoa dude, where did you come from? Look you can't really come here cuz we're working on a serious project and...' the human sniggered. 'Dude where did ya get your outfit?'

Pips looked at him confused. The human confronting him was no more dressed than he was, wearing only a pair of denim shorts and boots.

'I could ask you the same thing.'

'Nah, seriously. Those must be the most realistic wings I've ever seen and man! You've even got the pointy ears. Talk about authentic. Let me in on your secret man, where'd ya get'um from?'

Pips was beginning to get irritated with the way this human spoke. Not only did he call him by his least favourite word (dude), he was breaking up sentences by randomly saying 'man' and if Pips hadn't already known that the guy was intentionally missing out letters to make words blur into each other, he would have thought there was something wrong with him.

'Look, I need to speak with whoever's in that tent,' Pips said, completely ignoring the guy's question.

The amused smile soon vanished from the human's face and his expression turned uncomfortable.

'Dude, listen, its pretty clear you're a forest fanatic and we really appreciate the support but ya can't just waltz in 'ere dressed as a Sugarplum and expect to voice your opinion. We've got regulations man.'

'Say you know Zack,' Crysta whispered.

'I know Zack-' Pips relayed.

'He's a friend of mine.'

'...he's a _friend_ of mine.'

Pips swore she was teasing him and stabbing at his pride, but surprisingly it worked. The guy took on a more friendly but annoying attitude and practically welcomed them into the camp...with a forced detour to Zack's tent first.

There was a groan and a rustle of material from his tent, clearly unhappy about being disturbed. Pips made a point to enjoy every moment of his discomfort. The zip finally opened and a ragged Zack's head poked out.

'Crysta said you looked terrible but its worse than I thought,' Pips said rather smugly.

Zack gawked at him.

'Pips?! When did you get so...'

Zack blinked and drew his gaze to the little fairy waving at him from Pips' hair.

'...big.'

**

* * *

Rather short but amusing little chapter, things will start to go up a notch next time :) R&R**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello all. Here's chapter 19...I'm starting to think I should spend some time on my other story as well, I haven't done much on that in a while :S Anyhoo read and review.**

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After the overall shock, Zack ushered Pips and Crysta into his tent and sent a reassuring smile to his coworkers. Once they were inside and settled themselves as comfortably as possible in the confined space, the smiling facade was gone and a mixture of confusion, anger and panic all but screamed from his face.

'What the hell are you doing? Do you have any idea what could happen after what you've just done?'

Crysta, who was sitting crossed legged on Pips' own crossed legs, looked up at him in confusion.

'But Pips looks completely normal, he's human size and the other humans mistook his clothing as a costume. What could possibly be wrong?'

Zack tiredly rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger and fought to keep his temper. He knew her intentions were good and that she only wanted to help, but her naivety was testing his patience.

'Not all the humans are that gullible Crysta. Some of them have probably already figured out that they look too real'

'He has a point Crysta,' Pips added, 'those humans were looking at us...or rather me, quite suspiciously.'

Crysta humphed.

Pips sighed, 'Is there any way we can fool the others into thinking it really was a costume, and a plausible reason why I'd be wearing it?'

Zack cocked an eyebrow at him thoughtfully, when Pips wasn't acting like a jealous prick, he was actually quite smart.

'You got any ideas?' Zack asked politely.

Pips gave him a are-you-stupid look.

'I know nothing about human habits, culture or their stupid reasons to dress up. Thats your area.'

Zack's eye twitched. Ok he's smart, but still a prick.

Fifteen minutes later, Zack and Pips (plus a hidden Crysta) eventually emerged from the tent. Zack had changed his top into something fresher and Pips was wearing a white baggy t-shirt to cover his wings...and if anyone had noticed, it was the same top Zack was wearing previously. He also changed into some knee length green shorts and he stood awkwardly, uncomfortable with the material between his legs. Zack had also tied his hair up loosely with some weird complicated twisty thing so to cover up the tips of his ears.

Pips now looked like any other human. The only downside that grated his nerves was the fact that since his hair was now tied up in order to hide his ears, Crysta had to transfer to his nemesis' shoulders.

The story Zack came up with, should anybody ask, was that Pips was an old college friend whom he studied with and had a passionate interest in cosplaying. Pips, having no idea what that was, just decided he'd let Zack do the talking.

'You sure you wanna do this?' Zack asked as they made their way to the negotiator's tent. Nervousness evident in his voice.

'Scared?' Pips smirked.

'Not for myself,' he shot back.

Pips scoffed and pulled back the tent door quite roughly, startling the occupant inside.

Both males ignored the small mans irritated complaints and boldly strode inside. Zack noticed something missing and pinpointed the source for his concern.

'Where's the big guy?'

* * *

Roberts was sweating and it wasn't entirely from the heat. Nervous perspiration was still layering his skin even after leaving the tent, the atmosphere in there had been hostile and he hadn't fully shaken it off.

He moved away from the camp and sought out the truck with the newly arrived batch of fertiliser. It was parked further south of the campsite and closer to the areas of forest that were being fertilised. Rope held down the neatly stacked plastic containers of life giving liquid, keeping it firmly secure during the ride here and preventing anyone from simply taking them.

Roberts came here to be alone.

His anxiousness was evident as he fumbled for his satellite phone, checking for signal he dialled a number that he was only supposed to call in an emergency.

It rung once, twice and he was still holding it to his ear as it rung for the seventh time. Then the other end connected.

There was a spark and a crackle as the phone suddenly split in half. He quickly whisked the phone away from his face and clutched the place where it burnt him. Half of the phone fell to the ground whilst the other half was still clutched in his hand.

'I knew I didn't like the smell of you.'

Roberts turned around to the voice and instantly wished he didn't.

Mac stood over him in all his towering glory with his machete firmly in hand and eyeing him like a predator that had cornered its prey.

Roberts visibly paled.

Mac took an intimidating step towards him.

'Now who would you be calling with that nice little toy eh?'

Roberts took a step back, fear completely stealing his voice.

'Hmm? Don't want to talk now? You seemed quite eager to talk with whomever was on the phone. Aren't I a reasonable bloke to talk too?'

Roberts was regretting his decision of going so far away from the campsite. He could run but he had a feeling Mac would strike him if he so much as twitched.

'Clever little rabbit,' Mac grinned.

Roberts was frozen with fear as Mac suddenly flipped the machete and plunged it down, little relief overcame his fear seeing that one strike cut easily through the rope and sunk deeply into one of the containers.

Mac pulled his machete out effortlessly and inspected his now glistening blade. Without taking his eyes off it, he took a lighter from his pocket and flicked it open. He let a smirk freely tug his lips as he noticed Roberts eyes widen in realisation and fear. Mac brought the flame to life with a quick flick of his thumb and slowly eased it to touch the moisture clinging to his blade.

The fertiliser caught instantly and violently, encasing the blade in flame and making Mac look like a demon from hell. The smirk never left his face.

'So...' Roberts shivered at the purr in Mac's voice, 'There was some truth in your words earlier.'

Mac flicked the machete and caused some droplets to fly towards Roberts. He flinched and dodged them and quickly stomped on the ones nearest to him to put them out. The others were too close to Mac for him to dare extinguish. They licked at the air, searching, reaching for more material to burn and found it in the dry grass around it. Mac snuffed them out calmly with his boot before they could gain a good grasp.

The fire on his machete was slowly going out and Mac watched it fascinatingly until the flames finally died and left the metal glowing pink between the cracks of soot that covered it.

'Call your men.'

Roberts tensed at the order, Mac's eyes had now focused on him and were gazing at him threateningly.

'I'll be supervising you to make sure you get the job done.'

'B-but-.'

Like a snake, Mac's hand lashed out and grabbed him by the collar. Roberts didn't dare move or speak. Mac then presented him with the blunt side of his blade and used the material clenched in his hand to clean it, making the weapon come uncomfortably close to his face. He then flipped the now soot-free sharp edge to his ear, millimetres away from his skin. Roberts could feel the heat radiating from it.

'Don't take me for a fool,' Mac said darkly, 'I can smell the fear reeking from your pores. Defying me is utterly pointless.'

Mac shoved him back and he fell over ungracefully, his fear had drained the strength from his legs.

'Call your men,' he repeated.

* * *

**Muwah hah ha, Mac has taken things into his own hands, dunno why but I luv Dark Mac's character. Whats going to happen now? Will Zack and Pip's get the truth out off Boss and stop Mac in time? Or is Ferngully doomed to have another destructive onslaught. And just who was Roberts calling before he was...er...cut off. All will be revealed soon enough. Keep reading and don't forget to review! They make my day :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry for the wait, you may skip straight to the story before I give my regular list of excuses, but before that I thought I'd just mention that I've made a link on my profile to this particular video review on Ferngully...its rather negative about it but it's funny. Anyway this time it's a mixture of plain laziness and writers block, and this accounts for both stories I'm writing. It sucks when that happens. Enjoy.**

* * *

In all his working career he had never had an adversary as stubborn or persistent as this guy. Boss's eyes were bulging in anger, firstly for being disturbed from a rather nice nap and secondly at Zack for bringing one more person to the Green group, thinking it would make a huge difference.

Zack hadn't said anything yet but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. The guy was probably some representative for a load of supporters that had a bit of spare change for the hard working green party.

Boss looked around the tent after Zack's inquiry and was just as surprised to find the large man absent. Mac rarely left his side without informing him first, although he didn't always tell him where he was going or how long he'd be gone, Boss could always rely on him to come back sooner or later. However right now he had disappeared at a very inconvenient moment.

'He's probably stretching his legs or something,' he said whilst giving Zack and his companion an annoyed glare. He then yawned widely. 'Now if you don't mind gentlemen I'd rather you'd left me in peace. Whatever you wish to discuss with me can be sorted out later.'

'Not likely,' the other man snorted, 'Next time you wake up I'll have grown a beard so we may as well get this over and done with whilst we're still young.'

Zack elbowed his companion in warning as Boss's eyes bulged.

'Such a lack of manners and that attitude doesn't help to make me feel even remotely inclined to speak with you. You obviously have next to no experience in business matters,' Boss mocked smugly, waiting for a satisfying reaction.

'You're right, I don't,' the red haired man replied bluntly.

Boss stared at him surprised and angry, he didn't even get a twitch of annoyance out of him and he was so blatantly honest. Where the hell did Zack get this guy?

Zack tried to make peace, 'Boss, this man is a representative of-'

'A charity of some sort and I'm sure they've made a nice hefty contribution towards your cause but I'm afraid even if you've somehow raised enough money to buy the entire forest and still had some to spare to carry on you little project, it will be a resounding no. Our company would not be willing to sell off any land,' Boss interrupted.

'No that's not it,' Zack began, receiving a challenging raised eyebrow as if to say -you mean I'm wrong?-, 'He's the representative of the local residences and in all honesty, it is illegal to build on land that is already inhabited by people.'

Boss's eyebrows shot up in uncontrolled surprise before lowering back to their natural scowl.

'But there are no locals,' he said with certainty, 'surely if there were, I would have been informed about them at an earlier time than this and you would've had me out of here on the first day.'

Boss shifted glances at the two men suspiciously. Zack had obviously been caught out by that fact and Boss could almost hear the gears turning in his head to come up with a valid explanation. The other man, whom had yet to give their name, was looking at Zack with bored expectancy and what looked a bit like hidden amusement. Was he enjoying Zack's discomfort?

Boss was clearly confused by the interaction between the two men but he was certain that this was a set up, a badly laid out and un-cooperative set up. Their teamwork sucked. Not to mention the lack of authenticity in the idea. Look at the man, he's practically bleached next to Zack, how the heck were they supposed to convince him that he's a local when his skin tone doesn't even match with the climate? If anything, Zack looked more like a local than he did.

Boss didn't bother listening to the useless babble that Zack was coming up with and stopped him by raising his hand.

'That is enough, Mr Young,' Boss said almost politely, returning to addressing Zack formally, 'I've seen and heard enough to convince me that this is a ruse, that in itself is a crime and I don't take kindly of making a fool of. However you are a passionate and dedicated man and I admire your efforts to protect this forest. Men like you are hard to find and just this once I will let this drop but don't ruin your reputation with desperate tactics. It's unbecoming.'

Yes, be nice. Let them think that he sympathises with them. It will lead them off his scent until it is too late and the forest is reduced to ash. Boss mentally praised himself for his cunning.

'Unfortunately,' the red head said drolly, 'I am a local as Zack says. This forest is my people's home and there is nowhere we could go if you demolished it.'

Boss sighed at their stubbornness, clearly they weren't going to give up until he pointed out all their flaws and gave him a headache.

'Sir I don't know how much this man has paid you to do this but I'm afraid it isn't working. You clearly aren't a real local because firstly your cooperation and gratitude towards the person trying to save your so called 'home' is severely lacking, Zack looks more local than your skin colour indicates and as I've said before, if you were local I would have been informed about you and spoken to you a lot earlier in the week than this. Lastly you clearly are not taking this seriously to make this even remotely convincing. Please stop wasting my time.'

As he spoke, Boss noticed the man's smirk gradually disappearing and his eyebrows furrowing into a frown. He didn't not like how those forest green eyes had suddenly become hard and focused on him compared to how they wandered aimlessly in disinterest and amusement before.

'I apologise then,' he said, all amusement gone from his voice, 'Truth be said I do not like nor get on well with Zack for personal reasons but I am grateful to him for helping the forest and our people. My appearance should mean nothing unless you take prejudice against it and it is only as of late that we have been informed of our forest's predicament because this idiot here,' he cocked his head towards Zack, 'thought he could handle it by himself thus saving us the aggravation and worry of dealing with people like you.'

Boss sat on his makeshift bed with his mouth slightly open. He clearly wanted to say something at various moments of the argument but once the man had finished he found himself speechless. Although he was slightly taken aback of being accused of prejudice, Boss couldn't deny that what he was told made sense and he could easily see it happening now he knew what the two men's personalities were like. He was finding it hard to find a crack to lever his defence.

'That serious enough for you?'

Oh crap.

* * *

Zack and Pips left the tent, leaving a rather flustered Boss inside to deal with his thoughts.

Crysta was praising Pips's smart and quick thinking in Zack's ear and was gushing with happiness and excitement.

'We're not out of the woods yet,' Zack said for both of them to hear, 'most likely he's going to ask for another audience with you to bargain for the land.'

'Which we're not going to give him,' Pips replied cooly.

Pips glanced around him and then stopped with a confused frown.

'Where is everyone?'

* * *

Mac watched silently yet intimidatingly over Roberts' men as they hauled the containers from the truck and carried the heavy load into the forest. He stood a reasonable distance away, keeping Roberts close and pretending to have a discussion with him to excuse his lack of involvement. It was just a precaution, because like most prey, they instinctively flee and call for help if they're not kept on a tight leash.

Keeping Roberts in front of him, Mac began to stalk over to the truck as he noticed the men had stopped removing containers and were taking out some sort of spraying contraption out of the passenger side of the truck.

'You won't be needing those,' he said quietly.

Having snuck up on the young man holding the objects, his low toned voice caused him to jump and drop a few in the process. Mac smiled maliciously at the terrified expression the young man wore. He never got tired of doing that.

'B-but we need them to spread the fertil-'

He cut himself off as Mac slowly and deliberately removed the machete from his belt and positioned it dangerously to Roberts' neck. Both Roberts and the young man's eyes widened in shock and horror, suddenly aware of how serious Mac was.

'Keep unloading the truck.'

The man scrambled away from Mac and proceeded to untie the ropes holding the remaining containers down with shaky hands. He fumbled with the knots and his eyes darted from his efforts to his captive superior, making sure that Mac wasn't harming him as he tried to blunderingly accomplish his task.

Mac became impatient and dragged Roberts to the truck before raising his arm and cutting all the rope in one powerful swing. The young man had frozen in terror at Mac's strength and skill with the blade.

'I believe I gave you a job to do,' Mac said threateningly, placing his blade back under Roberts' chin.

The young man broke from his stupor and grabbed a container. His arms strained from the heavy weight but moved quickly regardless.

Mac grinned.

Soon the other men came back after a rather incoherent and teary message and were all rather shocked to see the situation in front of them. Mac ordered them to take all the containers into the forest, emphasising his authority with a press of his blade to Roberts' neck.

They had no choice but to obey.

Once the last container was being unloaded, Mac followed them into the forest where they were situated. The surrounding area was a mixture of dead and live trees with a few flowering shrubs growing near the tree roots. Mac uncaringly crushed them under his boot.

'Thank you for being such obedient workers,' he said to them with a grin, 'I would like you now to pour the fertiliser into the immediate area and once thats done, use the rest to do the area around it. Then come right back here.'

Mac stepped forwards, pulling Roberts with him and ordered him to pick up one of the containers.

'We'll hold onto this one. You have 5 minutes to get it done.'

The men did as they were told. Most had already speculated what Mac had in mind as they had noticed the flammable symbol labeled on the containers. The dry ground made it impossible for the fertiliser to be absorbed in such large quantities and the men watched it helplessly as it spread itself without much aid, snaking in small rivulets in every direction. It was like it was complying to Mac's wishes.

Mac eyed them all as they returned with empty containers, satisfied.

'Very good.'

'We have done what you asked. Please release Roberts and let us go, in exchange we promise to keep silent about this,' one of the men asked bravely.

Mac nodded, 'I have every faith that you will keep that promise.'

Mac removed the machete from Roberts neck and pushed him forwards almost gently to rejoin his men.

As one man checked Roberts over, the others kept an eye on Mac as he slowly undid the cap to the last container. He poured a generous amount onto his blade before throwing the still half full container in their direction, its contents spilling everywhere and leaving a continuous wet trail behind.

The mens eyes widened as they realised what he was going to do.

'We're now going to play a little game,' Mac said eagerly as he fished his lighter from his jacket and flicked it open, igniting his machete with a sharp press of his thumb.

The men were already running in various directions before Mac finished his sentence.

'It's called, Survival.'

Mac flicked the blade and sent droplets of flame flying, catching the wet trail and sending a miniature inferno slithering along the ground like a hunting bloodhound. The flames reached the almost empty container in an instant, the liquid that was still concentrated inside was enough to set off a small explosion, sending alit debris souring through the air and spreading its contagious heat.

There were screams as some of the men were hit by molten plastic and picked up their pace as flames licked at their heels and set their boots alight. None of them had dared try to escape to the area that wasn't bathed in the flammable substance, because the gleam in Mac's eyes promised no chance of escape if they tried to flee in his direction.

The flames spread swiftly and ferociously. The ground was bathed in hot light, reaching into the sky like dancing snakes and seeking out places it had not yet touched. The nearby trees were soon victimised to the flames appetite and became an energy source for it to feed on. The branches that netted together became bridges for the flames to cross, making the fiery infection disperse along the tree tops and billow smoke into the air.

What was worse, was a southerly wind had joined the fray, guiding the flames ever deeper into the forest.

Mac blew gently on the dying flames on his machete, rekindling them for a moment before going out completely. He watched the inferno in front of him devour the vegetation and noted in satisfaction that the areas that were doused in fertiliser hadn't burnt out like his machete. The ground itself had caught alight.

Mac turned away and relished in the cooling that his shadow provided. Walking out the forest, he listened to the roar of the flames, the snapping of the trees and the new song the forest sang in the form of screams.

* * *

**If I were them, I'd be running in the other direction from Mac too. Again sorry for the wait, please review.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Back again with my head hung low. I know I have been neglecting my stories...a lot and I'm thankful to those who have kept reading and badgering me to update. I have now got some spare time to actually commit to my stories somewhat so I'm now going to make the effort to writing more and maybe even bring this story to a conclusion. I'd like to thank Alex Rotta for kindly offering to take on my story, but I feel it's my responsibility to finish it and I will start with this chapter. Although feel free to write your own Ferngully scenario, it would be nice for a few more Ferngully fanfics out there. That's enough from me, enjoy and review.**

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Batty fled.

Batty flew for all he was worth to escape the choking smell that was stinging his throat and nostrils. He coughed and managed to dodge the tree that unexpectedly appeared in his path.

Once clear of the foul smell, batty flew upwards and above the canopy and immediately regretted it. Thick black smoke was gathering in clouds above the trees and Batty's eyes watered from the heat and chemicals. Despite this he kept flying upwards, holding his breath whilst repeatedly beating his wings until he was free of the poisonous smoke and gulped down the clean air like water.

He looked down to survey the damage and couldn't believe how fast this fire was spreading. Trees young and old were engulfed in flames and Batty looked at the clear blue sky in dismay. There wasn't a single cloud in sight.

Batty hovered for a while and then gasped in horror. He had to find Crysta.

* * *

Crysta stared wide-eyed at the giant smoke clouds that clung to the forest canopy and continued to swell like an engorged black grub.

It had happened so quickly. Not minutes before the sky was clear and the forest peaceful, filled with the sound of bird song and animal calls. Now smoke blocked out the sun causing an ominous shadow to swallow the light. Birds screeched and fled to the sky, creating a terrifying chorus that faded into a doomed silence as they flew out of sight. Over the roar of flames that were yet unseen, the forest hissed and groaned in pain. Crysta covered her ears in horror when the distinctive scream of a falling tree pierced through the sound of the flames cackling evilly at their deed.

The two males could only stare helplessly.

Zack collapsed onto the dry earth, shaking his head hopelessly. They didn't have the equipment to fight a fire this big. A few extinguishers in case their own fire went berserk, but something on this scale…they might as well be water pistols. Help from the nearest city was half a day's drive from here. By then the damage would already be done and they'd be risking the lives of more people.

Zack spared a glance at the human sized fairy to find his expression was as distraught as his own. It would appear the fairies had nothing to quench the ravenous flames either.

After all their hard work, both fairy and human alike, they could do nothing but watch as their efforts went up in smoke.

'Oh my.'

Boss stood outside his tent, gazing at the billowing smoke with sweat trickling down his face. His eyes shifted over the size of it, calculative and panicking.

'J-just…h-how many people did you say lived in this forest?'

Zack was suddenly on his feet and stomping angrily towards him, using his height to tower over the tubby man.

'What did you do!?' he practically growled.

Boss jumped back at his ferocity, but it seemed he was jolted back to his senses. The glaze over his eyes sharpened, his eyebrows went back to their habitual frown and he leant forward with a know-it-all leer, arrogantly waving his finger with certainty.

'Now see here, I don't know what you're accusing me of, but I had nothing to do with this. I was with you the entire time before this happened.'

'But you don't seem at all surprised that it happened. Did you plan this? Is that what the big bloke was up to this entire time?'

'You have no proof we had anything to do with this.'

'But you're not denying it!'

Zack grabbed the porky man by the front of his shirt, lifting him off the ground until he was almost face level. Boss kicked and whaled at his mishandling but couldn't hide the fear on his face as Zack glowered angrily at him.

'You actually went this far to destroy the forest _and_ endanger peoples lives? I don't think even you superiors will let you get away with that one.'

'That's not what we aimed to do!' Boss squealed fearfully, 'We only meant to destroy the forest so you'd have no forest to protect! We didn't even know there were people living in the forest until now!'

'And what about the creatures in the forest! Did you not know about them as well!'

Crysta screamed at him with tears streaming down her cheeks, she was so angry she had curled her hands into fists. She hovered in front of Boss' face, seething dangerously close to his left eye.

Boss stilled in Zack's grasp, his eyes widened and went cross-eyed as he stared at the tiny sprite. Every nerve in Boss' body seemed to twitch and a panicked look mixed with his fearful one as his body finally moved. He shut his eyes tight and thrashed about, making his arms swing in front of his face and swat at the air.

Crysta had backed away at Boss' sudden change and she darted back to hide behind Pips when he suddenly screamed.

'Bugs! I hate bugs!'

Zack dropped the flailing man so he landed in a puff of dusty cloud. Rearing back, Zack punched Boss squarely in the jaw, making the man topple over and clutch his face painfully. Zack moved to punch him again, but a hand held him back.

'Forget about him Zack! We need to start evacuating everyone somewhere safe!' Pips yelled, bringing him back to the present.

Zack looked at the empty campsite and nodded solemnly. He needed to find his team and make sure they were all right. Turning back, Boss cowered beneath his shadow.

'Get back in that tent and don't move,' Zack threatened quietly.

Boss jumped to his feet obediently and stumbled almost comically into the tent.

'I need to find my group,' Zack said anxiously, 'You two need to warn Ferngully and get everyone to safety.'

With that, Zack took off towards the forest.

'Wait Zack!' Crysta called after him, starting to follow.

'Don't!' Pips cried and Crysta stopped in her tracks, turning to him with wide eyes. 'Now isn't the time to put your heart before your head Crysta. Zack will be fine, right now you need to turn me back and get to Ferngully.'

Crysta took one last distraught look in Zack's direction and then focused on Pips. Summoning the magic she chanted the shrinking spell and released it. Pips shrank back to his original size and peeled out of the now shrunk human clothing.

Both fairies shot into the forest, keeping low to stay out of the smoke and urging any creatures they came across to head out of the trees. Reaching Ferngully, they found that most of the fairies had gathered in the circle and were chattering in worried tones.

'Crysta!'

Crysta's father hovered towards them and embraced his daughter tightly.

'Thank goodness you're all right,' he said with a sigh of relief. Pulling back, he grasped her hand and began guiding her to the centre of the trees. 'This fire couldn't have happened at a worse possible time. You'll need to split everyone into groups and give instructions on fire measures.'

'Wait, we have fire measures?' Crysta asked in shock.

'Of course,' he replied with a smile, 'Forest fires are a natural course of life, they don't happen that often, but they have the potential to be devastating if we leave them be. The last one was before either of you were born.'

The old fairy's smile became grave as his large eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

'I'm afraid that we cannot ask your human friend for help this time Crysta,' he said with bitter disappointment. 'I have unfortunately been informed that this fire was ignited by one of the humans.'

Crysta looked at her father in horror and then around her, noting the distrusting glares from the fairy population. They already knew. Crysta bowed her head in utter defeat; any chance of regaining trust between the humans and fairies now was completely destroyed. And any trust they had in her.

'What can I do now?' she asked miserably.

'Despite how you feel and how anyone feels about you, you must uphold you're position as leader. We need to be united if our forest is to survive and I'm sorry, but you cannot be involved with that human anymore.'

'It wasn't Zack,' Crysta barely whispered, her voice tight with emotion, 'It wasn't him. He was helping us, he really was. I was with him when this happened, he was just as saddened by it as we were.'

'I understand,' he said, clasping her hands in his, 'but I'm afraid most will find him just as guilty.'

Crysta couldn't control the tears as they cascaded down her cheeks and Pips put what he hoped was a reassuring arm around her shoulders. Placing his chin on her head, he whispered into her hair.

'It'll be ok, Crysta.'

Taking the initiative, Pips spoke for her.

'What do we need to do?'

* * *

Zack inspected the ground where the shattered pieces of a satellite phone lay discarded by the jeep. All of the containers of fertiliser were gone and Zack had a nauseating hunch to where it had been disposed.

The dusty earth was scattered with boot prints and a trail of them lead back and forth to the trees nearby. There, Zack could see the orange glow of flames in the distance.

Zack followed the trail, keeping an eye out for any of his group and hoped that they were all right. As he ventured deeper into the forest he felt the heat of the fire dry his skin and he broke through the vegetation into a clearing where the fire obviously originated.

The ground and neighbouring trees were scorched black into charcoal. Smoke rose from the smouldering remains and escaped through the naked branches above. The air was heavy with heat and soot, ash fell gracefully like grey snow only to be violently scattered by small thermals created by the burning wood. The aged bark of the trees that had fallen flickered a dying red as the embers fed on whatever life remained.

Zack brought an arm up to protect his face as a gust of hot air sent a flurry of ash into his eyes. He blinked until his sight returned and then cautiously walked deeper into the clearing.

He had only travelled a couple of metres but the temperature difference was immense. Zack squinted to the point of shutting his eyes for fear that they might dry out and any sweat he had before immediately evaporated. He was astounded by the amount of heat still present in the area where the fire had gone out, there was no way that he could get any closer to the fire to look for his team.

Zack backed out of the clearing with a cough, noting the drop in temperature with minor relief. He let out a yell of frustration and brought his hands to his head, as if the action would help clear his mind.

It was too hot and too dangerous to venture any further into the forest. All he could do is run around it where the heat wasn't scorching and hope that he found his team along the way. It wouldn't do him or his team any good if he just ran in blindly to become injured. Dread and helplessness crawled into Zacks chest as he started running and calling their names, completely unaware of the predatory eyes that watched him.

* * *

Crysta and Pips watched with heavy hearts as the last group of fairies departed to carry out the necessary tasks to stop the fire. Already a group had been sent out to evacuate as many creatures as possible and another to slow the fire down. The last group, which Crysta was in charge of, were to make blockages that would stop the fire in its tracks should it reach this far.

Crysta mentally flinched at the distrustful glares that were sent her way whilst she was handing out orders, but for her sake and theirs she didn't let it show.

She took one glance at Pips for assurance and took of into the air, the rest of the group shortly following. They had barely left the circle of trees when a familiar scream, followed by the form of Batty slamming into one of the trees shocked the group to a stop.

Crysta immediately shot forward to check on her friend as he pulled himself off the bark and flapped his wings languidly.

'Hello nice to meet you. I'd shake your hand but I don't have hands.'

Crysta abruptly silenced Batty by grabbing his snout, simultaneously snapping him out of his concussed stupor.

'Batty, you need to get away from here, fly as fast as you can out of the trees and get downwind. Go now!'

Batty barely managed to inhale after Crysta released him before she took off. Floundering to stay airborne, Batty yelled to get her attention and tried to keep up with her and the departing fairies.

Batty flapped his wings with all his might but failed to gain any distance as the group were slowly shrinking from sight.

'Wait! Crysta! This is important!'

Batty was starting to lose his strength, the effort off escaping the flames and then rushing here was starting to take their toll. His wings were starting to slow and he was wheezing from lack of breath. He was beginning to despair as the tree sprites showed no sign of slowing down.

Batty did the only thing he could do. Allowing himself to crash into a nearby tree branch, he clambered onto it and took a deep breath. He just hoped she would hear him.

'HEXXUS!' he screamed, 'THE SMOKE CLOUD IS HEADING STRAIGHT FOR HEXXUS!'

* * *

**And here is the obligatory cliffhanger. I know how much you guys love em. Til next time.**


	22. Chapter 22

**And lo and behold another chapter. R&R and enjoy :)**

* * *

Mac silently prowled the edge of the forest, biding his time. His eyes remained fixed on the blond team leader as he knelt next to one of his unconscious team members.

In the untouched area where the flames haven't reached, Mac observed with a feral irritation that the entire environmental group had survived. Some were sitting, nursing their burns whilst others were pacing with adrenalized patience. The betrayer Roberts was unconscious and was being tended to by Zack and another unharmed comrade. Smoke inhalation was the likely cause to his collapse and judging by the regular coughing fits by the team, they had narrowly avoided a similar fate.

Mac watched as the man beside Roberts spoke animatedly to Zack, waving his arms dramatically before bringing a hand to his head to rub it anxiously. Mac was too far away to hear what being said, but he had a pretty good idea.

Soon after Zack had finished conversing, he began seeing to the rest of his team, comforting them and urging them to move.

Mac narrowed his eyes as the group started helping each other to their feet; two of them needed human crutches to limp their way out of the treeline. There was only one place they could go to now and with the injured slowing them down, Mac would have a good head start getting there first and setting up an ambush. This time he would make sure to get rid of his loose ends.

* * *

Crysta surged ahead with Pips loyally following beside her. They had to act fast. Once they had reached the heart of Ferngully they gave each other one last reassuring look before splitting into different directions, leading their own group to their assigned tasks.

Crysta guided her group beyond the wall of trees that surrounded the lush area and drew all her attention to her given responsibility. First she had to establish how much time was predicted before the flames reached this part of the forest and work in an area that wasn't choked in smoke. Already the smoke tendrils were crawling along the ground like gaseous snakes and Crysta forced her group to a stop. She really didn't like the method used to control the fire, but she didn't have much choice if she wanted to save the forest as a whole.

Choosing a tree as a marker, Crysta landed in front of it and instructed her group to form a line a couple of tree widths between them on either side of her. Crytsa knew they must be baffled by the strange command but they obeyed her unquestioningly.

Taking deep breaths, Crysta gave them a moment to get in place and then knelt, laying her palms flat against the ground. She turned to the fairies closest to her and watched as they mimicked her, turning their heads to the others to do the same.

Knowing that everyone was in position, Crysta took a moment to get her thoughts together. Searching through the memories from the lessons Magi Lune had taught her, she allowed a brief moment to make sure she had all the information and essential executive methods clearly laid out in her mind, because in the end, this is what it all built up to. Without this knowledge, no one would be able to do what they were about to do right now.

Crysta let one more nervous breath escape her lips and then she began to glow. The pale blue light that radiated from her body seeped into the soil and illuminated the roots of the tree. The light continued to spread into the neighbouring roots of the trees beside it. The fairies either side of Crysta watched with fearful awe as the light eloped from tree to tree, coming closer to their own and then something happened that they had never seen before. The tree roots began to move.

Slowly but firmly, the roots began to arch out of the soil. Glowing with the magic that fuelled them, they began to crawl like florescent, stiff limbed octopi back towards Ferngully. Once the magic in the roots reached the trees in front of the other fairies, they tapped their own magic into the roots and helped power the spell into moving the trees away from the incoming fire.

The process was a slow and arduous one. Forcing plants to move unnaturally drains a lot of energy and to move trees that are this old, tall and heavy was very dangerous. Magi Lune taught Crysta that moving plants involved a lot of focus. She would have to be very aware to how the plant moved and be extremely precise to how much magic is used to make that movement. The result of using too much could end a fairy's life so this wasn't a skill that can be mastered by just anyone.

As the trees backed up and came into contact with others, the magic spread and those trees began to back up as well. The speed of the first row of crawling trees dramatically dropped as the magic was shared to the others. Crysta strained to keep the magic flow equal; if she pushed too much in too fast she could easily drain all of them of their magic.

Sweat was beginning to form on Crysta's brow and they had only managed to achieve 3ft. More smoke was gathering in heavier plumes and it wouldn't be long before the fairies would be forced to leave the ground.

Crysta held her breath for as long as she could when the air close to the ground was becoming un-breathable. When the strain in her lungs and focus became unbearable, she stopped the spell and flew upwards hastily, inhaling the clean air desperately. She saw the rest of her group shoot up into the air and gulp down the air similarly to how she was just doing. She felt a sense of pride that they fought to keep the magic going for as long as they did.

As they gathered around her, Crysta observed the results of their efforts and there was perhaps a 10ft gap between the trees. It would have been better if it was a little bit wider, but Crysta encouraged her team to use whatever energy they had left to bend the trees away from each other, making a significant difference between the branches. This would hopefully prevent the fire from spreading through the trees. The earth that was once occupied by trees had been torn up by removal of roots and buried any dry vegetation that would have aided as a bridge to the other side.

Crysta and the other fairies landed to catch their breath, but they couldn't stay there for long. From the top of the leaning branches, where they rested, Crysta could see the giant smoke cloud coming ever closer and acting as a early warning for the flames that would soon follow.

The sound of trickling water had Crysta smiling as it signalled Pips' success with his own task. Slowly but surely, water began flowing over the dry ground and between the masses of tree roots. The churned up earth soaked up the water like a sponge and soon the wide uneven path became saturated with muddy puddles. Orange flames could be seen between the trees as the water reached the other side.

With the extra distance from the trees leaning away from each other, the fire shouldn't be able to spread through the trees and the added water should dampen any chance of it igniting anything on the ground. Crysta felt her heart clench painfully for the trees they couldn't save. The fire precaution ensured that the forest would continue when the fire finally dies, but it also meant they had to abandon so much life to secure the safety of the rest. A necessary, yet cruel sacrifice that Crysta wasn't sure how she was going live with.

Crysta let her tears fall to join the steady stream of water below. As guardians of the forest, they had failed the indigenous life forms that were unable to save themselves.

With a heavy heart, Crysta and her group followed the water upstream back into Ferngully. When they arrived they saw the reason for the free flowing water. A large tree had been crookedly grown across the river, operating as a dam and forcing the water to break its banks. Many small bushes were tightly grown together to form a watertight channel and guided the water to the newly formed mud hole.

The melodic music of Pip's pipes drew Crysta to the damming tree. Vines emerged along the furrowed bark and snaked its way into the grass, pining the tree in place. Crysta flew over to a branch that just hovered above the swollen side of the river and let her hands dip into the cool water. She cupped her hands and brought the refreshing liquid to her face, rubbing vigorously like it would wash away the guilt.

Pips ceased playing his pipes and allowed the last note to fade into silence. He glided over to where Crysta sat with her head on her knees and her arms tucked in, her hands covering her face as her shoulders shook with barely silent sobs. Pips watched her with a pitiful expression and descended slowly to land beside her. Sitting down, Crysta immediately latched onto him and began to bawl into his chest. He understood her pain, but he could do nothing but comfort her as they waited for the worst to be over.

Glancing around, he noted that the other fairies had also settled into the nearby branches and were holding hands with their eyes fixed on the rolling black cloud of smoke that was gradually crawling over the edge of the tree tops. The sun's light began to wane as the smoke eased its way overhead, leaving a pale circle in its wake and sweeping the area into overcast shadow.

Pips grasped Crysta's hand and entwined their fingers, allowing his own tears to fall as they sat helplessly, listening and waiting to the destruction of their home.

* * *

To an outsider's eye, it looked like any other tree. An interesting one, but a tree nevertheless. Large roots supported a large stem whose bark twisted and stretched towards the sky in its desire to seek sunlight. Healthy green leaves clustered its many twigs that splayed like fingers on its branches. Luscious bright flowers brought clusters of colour to it's green canvas, but despite its welcoming appearance, no birds roosted in it's canopy, no animal lived among it's branches or roots and no insects feasted on its flowery buffet.

Even with its lack of inhabitants, no one would suspect that beneath its vast root network, the remains of a metal tree eating monster was the foundation of its existence or that the tightly entwined bark was a prison for a great destructive evil.

Despite the security that the great tree reinforced, it was by any standard, just a normal tree and it was as susceptible to parasites and illnesses as any other. The work of the fairies made sure that the tree was continuously in good health, but the threat approaching it now could undo all their hard work in a heartbeat.

Batty was prepared to do anything he could to stop that from happening. Perched on the highest branch, he watched as the smoke cloud loomed over Ferngully and made its seemingly undisputable path towards him. He ignored the uneasiness he felt from being in contact with the bark.

He would never forget how close he had come to death confronting the deadly abomination trapped beneath his feet. Right now he had no fairy-sized human to smack his antenna to snap him into another mind-set and completely override his natural instinct of self-preservation. The fact that he was alone in this battle terrified him. Last time Zack was there to guide him and stop him from making stupid mistakes that his antenna-character would drive him to make. This time he was alone, in his sane, uninfluenced mind and was very aware of the danger he was about to put himself in. It was taking all of his will power not to spread his wings and fly away.

He only prayed that Crysta would realise the danger in time.

* * *

**Dum-Dum-Dum Duuuuum. Whatever could happen next? So much happening at once. I'm kinda proud how I've somehow unintentionally split the story to several viewpoints, well I just hope you guys like it cuz it's probably gonna be like this for the next couple of chapters at least. R&R**


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